Pure of Mind and Blood
by BlackFalcon002
Summary: Sequel to Strong of Heart and Fang. The wolves are back, but there's a new addition that seems to want to kill the dogs. Yaoi, RoxasXRiku, maybe others later on
1. Chapter 1

A.N. All right! This is the sequel to Strong of Heart and Fang, but if you didn't read that and don't want to, here's the scoop: Roxas is back, separated from Sora because he's a werewolf. He accidentally turned Riku into one too. Their fur color is the same as their hair, which is why silver-haired wolves are such a big deal in this story. There's more, but I don't feel like going into detail right now. And for those who were waiting for this to come, I'm sorry if it's a disappointment, and there'll probably be more mistakes in this one, but it took me a really long time to get started. I didn't know where to go with this one, so the beginning was hard to come up with!

Je suis un trés grande pomme de terre!

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_Sharp fangs buried themselves in the slim neck, blood spraying everywhere in a crimson mist. The scream was quickly converted into a gurgle as red overflowed in the open mouth, flying from cold lips. The body crumpled to the floor, limp and broken, like a marionette whose strings have been cut by the cruel hands of Fate himself._

_The silver wolf stood over the dead, staring down with blue eyes that held no mercy in their cerulean depths. With a snort of disgust, he turned away from the carnage, a bit disappointed that his prey hadn't put up more of a fight. But his job had been completed, and the wheels had just creaked into motion._

_The dogs would die, and wolves, the true lycanthropes, pure of mind and blood, would prevail over the pathetically weak human species. Those who bent to the will of those weaker than they would have to be eradicated as well, of course. He didn't need lapdogs tainting his race. They would all have to be exterminated._

_He would make sure of that._

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Sora groaned as the knock at his door continued, unabating. Groggily, he stared at the clock. Two thirty? Who the hell was knocking and bothering him at two thirty in the freakin' morning?

The knock was continuous, persistent, canceling any plans he had of ignoring them and going back to sleep. Slightly irritated, he rose, grumbling to himself, profanities leaking their way out of his mouth, directed at the pestilence. Opening the door, hoping that the noise wouldn't wake his parents, he opened his mouth to say something nasty, to tell whoever it was to piss off.

He never got the chance. Instead, a black-gloved hand covered his mouth, and a voice whispered gruffly, "Shh! Don't say a word. Just come on."

The hand was removed, and Sora watched in disbelief as Cloud backed away, disappearing into the darkness of the night. With only a brief second of hesitation, he followed, unsure of himself and wary of anything that might be lurking in ambush.

What the hell was Cloud doing at destiny Islands? How did he get here in the first place, anyway? The brunette supposed that Cid could have flown here in his airship, but _why _was the question that kept revolving in Sora's brain.

The airship, Cid's _Highwind, _was sitting on a large clear patch of beach that Sora rarely visited. No one went there, because the beach faced the northern winds, and it was always dreary and cold. Most of the Traverse Town gang was waiting for them. Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Tifa, Cloud; everyone was there except…

"Hey guys! Where's Aerith?" Sora asked, looking from face to face. Wach held the same expression of grief and anger. Cloud motioned for him to follow. "In the ship."

Sora's mind went into a confused and disbelieving spin as he saw what was waiting for him in the airship. A white coffin lay inside, propped on the ground, and pink roses adorned it. "Aerith…?" Sora breathed, his fingers brushing the ivory stone, cold and unmoving. He turned to the blonde, numb and sad at the same time, trying to register this new tragedy.

"Cloud…what happened? Why is Aerith..?" he trailed off, unable to finish that sentence. The longer he could go without saying it, the longer he had before reality took over.

"She…was attacked," Cloud said, his voice straining to not let his emotions through. Sora knew how hard he must have taken this, and how much he wanted to just break down. But he was too strong for that.

"By who?" the brunette asked, his eyes starting to tear up despite himself. "Was it Sephiroth?"

"I…we don't know," Cloud muttered, his voice becoming angry. "All we know is that it wasn't human. Leon…who was the one who caught it running away, after finding it with her…already dead…he said that it was a wolf."

Sora's breath caught in his throat. "A…a wolf? Are you positive?"

Cloud gave him a weird look at the way he had worded that sentence, but decided to answer the boy. "Yeah, it was a wolf. A silver wolf. And since wolves usually don't show up anywhere near Hollow Bastion, we're sure it's not just a regular wolf. It's a werewolf."

Sora felt like his heart had stopped for a second, skipping a beat inside his chest. "Oh my God…" he whispered, sitting heavily beside Aerith. "It…it can't be. Are you sure that it was…"

Cloud glared at him. Do you know something about this?" he asked coldly, and Sora flinched back, realizing that he had already said way too much. "N-no!" he lied quickly, and immediately regretted it as the tip of a sword pricked his neck.

"You always were a bad liar, Sora," Cloud growled. There was a clatter behind them as the rest of the group entered the ship behind them. Cloud was dragged away from the boy by Tifa and Leon's combined efforts, and Sora stood, shaking slightly.

"What are you _doing, _Cloud?" Tifa said impatiently. "We're trying to figure out what happened, and we just—"

"He knows something."

Immediately, everyone's heads swiveled around to face him. He scrambled back from their penetrating gazes. "B-but…but wait!" he said suddenly, quickly, as Leon and Yuffie advanced on him. "Why do you think I know anything? She was killed in Hollow Bastion, wasn't she?"

"Funny thing," Cloud growled. "I said that Leon had found her with a wolf. I didn't say that it was in Hollow Bastion."

Sora tried to grasp what Cloud was saying. "Wait…she was killed here?"

Tifa sighed, sitting down in one of the available seats scattered around. "We got here yesterday…we wanted to see you again. That, and there's nothing to do in town now that the Heartless are pretty much gone. Aerith was killed last night. We were going to come to you first, of course…"

"But we wanted to take care of her…Aerith…before we did anything else," Cloud finished, still sullen. "So, what do you know about this, Sora?"

Sora swallowed hard, not sure how much to tell them. "Well…I know that we've got a pair of wolves here…they're werewolves, and I don't exactly know when they got here and stuff…but I don't think they'd hurt anyone."

Cid snorted. "An' what makes ye think that?"

"I've met them."

Again, he immediately regretted his words as he felt Cloud's sword rematerialize against his throat. "W-wait, no! They didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Who are they?" Cloud growled. Sora put up his hands in defense. "I don't know! I met them when they were still…ah, furry, and they disappeared before I would see them when they, uh…weren't." He felt bad about lying to his friends, of course, but he would probably feel a lot worse if the whole group went out on a wolf massacre.

But the wolf had been silver…

Doubt assailed Sora, and he wondered if he should tell them everything. But it couldn't have been Riku. He had already regained his mind. He couldn't go crazy as a wolf anymore…right?

But what if he hadn't lost his mind at all?

Caught up in his worried thoughts, he didn't even notice that Cloud's sword had withdrawn. The brunette looked around at the faces of his friends, sad to see them all so miserable. The only one who wasn't, understandably, was Cloud, who was instead furious.

"Where are they?" he snapped, making Sora jump slightly. "U-um…In the forest," he answered reflexively, then immediately felt like hitting himself. Why not tall them that one of the wolves was silver, too? That was sure to help things along. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he decided that he was going to answer any more of their questions as truthfully as he could without endangering any of his friends. It would be worse off for all of them if the blonde found out that he was lying about anything.

"It's a full moon tonight, right?" Leon asked, looking out the open door of the ship, and Sora nodded. "Um…yeah. Tonight and tomorrow night. Yesterday was the first night of the three."

"Good," Cloud growled, stalking outside, looking more pissed off than Sora had ever seen him before. Leon followed, the same expression on his face as well. Sora stared after them, worried, looking questioningly at Yuffie, Tifa and Cid. "Where are they going?" he asked, afraid of the answer he already knew.

Cid cracked a grin at the Keyblade Master. "Looks to me," he said, scratching his chin, "like they're going huntin.'"

Sora stared at the black-clad woman in abject horror. "Will…will they kill any they find?"

Tifa just stared at him blankly. "It's Cloud," she replied by way of answer. "What else do you think he'd do? Aerith was precious to him."

"I have to stop them!" Sora said, scrambling outside hurriedly, sprinting towards the forest. "Those things wouldn't hurt anybody! I've been around them before, more than once!"

Yuffie yelled out at him as he streaked away, "Heeey! Be careful! If Cloud sees you, he might think you're one of them! He strikes first and doesn't ask questions until you're dead!"

"All right!" came Sora's answer, already far away and gaining distance rapidly. The ninja sighed, turning back to those who were left.

"What's his game?" she asked, jabbing her thumb at the brunette's receding back. "You'd think that he knew exactly who those wolves were or something, with how quickly he went to defend them."

Her words sunk in, and they all stared at each other. It was Cid who finally put what they were all thinking into words.

"Shit."

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A.N. I know, I know, not as good as the first one, but give it a chance, kk? Or at least yell at me. Tell me it's a crappy story ('cuz it is. At least, I think so). And for my beautiful reviewers of the first story, ie princessOFdarkness, phaz, ChibiFrubaGirl, Haninozuka Mitsukuni (I hope I spelled that right), PP. Bunny, Sera, and everyone else who reviewed anonymously, I sure hope that you're still with me! I love you all! Give me ideas! I'm running out!

I lubs ya'll. And for those who didn't review, whether they liked it or nit, I just want to say this : Pardonnez-moi, mais avez-vous un porc-épic coincé entre les fesses?

Love you.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. Awright, chapter two of this story! Wootness! I lubs evewyone who weviewed. Weally! I do's!

Heh heh. I is so retardedness.

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Roxas sneezed, and Riku gave him a weird look. Roxas grinned and barked happily, and Riku shook his head in exasperation.

'Honestly,' he thought, nudging the blonde wolf with his nose. 'You can be as bad as Sora sometimes.'

A shot rang out, interrupting their quiet scene. Riku yelped, blood spurting from the bullet slamming into his side. Roxas yelped, trying to tell both is he was okay and where that shot had come from at the same time, inspecting the silver-haired wolf's injuries, but Riku shook him off, growling.

Roxas could tell exactly what he was saying. 'Run.'

And they did, streaking through the forest as fast as they could. Another gunshot echoed off the close-knit trees, and Roxas felt it graze right by his head, hearing it shatter against a tree. He ducked around it, and the two were separated in their wild rush.

Roxas raced through the trees, nearly colliding with a few of them as his feet slid in the damp soil. His mind ran with him, spinning crazily. Who was shooting at them? _Why _were there people shooting at them? They hadn't done anything wrong. And as far as the blonde knew, Sora was the only one who knew anything about them being werewolves.

Had Sora told someone?

Another shot whizzed by his head, and far in the distance he could hear someone—male, by the depth of it—yelling. Immediately, he curved his body at a crazy angle, swerving and heading in that direction at suicidal speed. Maybe if he found the voice, he could find Riku. Roxas knew from his experiences in the Organization (cough_Xigbar_cough) that people didn't go very far with a bullet lodged in their side.

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Riku forced himself to add an extra spurt of speed to his flight through the dark woods. The same questions that had gone through Roxas also assaulted him, but he tried to ignore them, focusing on escaping from his pursuers.

His vision fuzzed in and out of focus more and more as he kept running. He felt the white-hot stabs of pain emanating from his side, but he knew that he couldn't stop and check on it. If he did that, whoever was following him would definitely kill him.

Above him, a figure leaped gracefully from tree to tree, taking aim with the silver Gunblade. Riku could see him out of the corner of his eye, and deviated just in time. The shot threw up dirt from the forest floor, leaving a small crater in the soil.

He turned his head slightly, trying to find the shooter in the swaying treetops, but whoever it was had been lost in the waving black shadows.

Turning to the front, he was confronted instead with a new challenge. A blonde man was rushing straight at him, sword aimed for right between Riku's eyes. Riku instinctively stopped moving, locking his legs so that he slid, ducking. He felt a sharp pain all along one side of his body, but he kept on his stumbling run, trying to ignore the festering injuries that kept wracking his body with agony.

"You son of a bitch!"" came a deep, angry voice behind him. Obviously, the blonde was more persistent than Riku was hoping, having decided to chase the silver wolf through the forest.

Desperation set in his pain-numbed body, and Riku fled deeper and deeper into the trees, trying to lose his attacker. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell if the blonde was still there. Riku hadn't heard him when he had gotten in front of him, so hearing hm in pursuit probably wasn't very likely.

The hairs on his neck stood up, and he threw himself to the side, his reflexes saving his life. The silver sword buried itself right where he had been not a second before, so close that Riku could feel the wind from it as it whistled by him.

Unfortunately, his quick motion put off his rhythm, and he stumbled. The blonde followed his sword on the way down, grabbing the leather-bound handle and swinging in the same motion. Riku was barely able to dodge it, and a small gash bled down the side of his face. He whimpered, backing away from the infuriated man. Vaguely, he recognized him as one of Sora's friends from when he had followed him as Ansem, but he couldn't remember his name.

"You bastard…" the blonde growled, advancing slowly, determined but cautious. Riku backed away, trying to find an opportunity to turn and run, but knew that the second he turned his back, that sword would impale him. His mind, his thoughts spinning madly, had the sudden morbid image of wolf shish kebab.

The blonde's sword rose a bit higher, and Riku whimpered again, ashamed of how weak his voice sounded. But he couldn't help it. He was going to die.

Just as the blonde drove forward, another blonde-furred bullet hit him, and they bowled over and over. Roxas leaped up, barking at Riku. This time, it was he telling Riku to run.

They both ran, together again. Behind them, Cloud rose, glaring after them. He picked up his sword from where he had dropped it, glaring at it as though it were the metal's fault. He stared up into the trees as he started off in pursuit again.

"Make sure they don't get away, Leon…" he grumbled. But the brown-haired man didn't hear him, already targeting the running wolves.

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A.N. Uh-oh. Someone's gonna get SHOT! Don't know who, though, how 'bout you guys decide? Well, I have a fairly good idea, but I'm not 100 sure just yet. Ah, well. Pity Riku. Everyone's trying to kill him. Aww…but anyway, it shall soon be Roxas' turn to suffer! Everyone's getting' hurt in this one. Heh heh…and that includes Sora…

Je pense en français; donc je suis. X3


	3. Chapter 3

A.N. Awright! Next chapter! Sorry it took so long. Oh, and my e-mails screwy, so I don't get any mail at all. Zip, zero, nada, so I'm sorry if you sent me a PM or whatever and I didn't respond. It's because I didn't get it at all…so yeah.

Oh, and thank you so much to my new reviewer, Chibified Zombie! YAAAY FOR YOU YOU GOT YOUR NAME IN HERE WOOTNESS! Yay for flaming emo rampages, XD. Anyhoo, I'm just going to let you read this and tell me what you think, kk? And I hope the next chapter after this will be up quicker. I'll try my best! X3

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Another shot rang out, and Roxas yowled, stumbling and falling. Riku skidded to a halt, fighting his own pain, rushing to the blonde's side, starting to panic slightly. Roxas staggered to his feet, but fell back, dizzy with pain and blood loss. Riku whimpered, nosing the blonde wolf, trying to get him to stand. The silver wolf knew that if they didn't keep running, whoever it was chasing them would catch up, and most likely kill them on the spot, no questions asked.

It was too late, however, as the blonde man skidded to a halt in the trees ahead of them, and as slowly advancing on the two with his sword raised. Riku stood in front of the injured Roxas, his sides fiery with agony, teeth bared in a snarl. He'd rather they kill him than Roxas. Anyone but Roxas.

A thump behind him made him turn, but as he did, another bullet slammed into his shoulder. He whimpered, backing away from the two. Leon and Cloud were glaring at him as they came closer cautiously, and he braced himself. He wouldn't, _couldn't _let them near Roxas, but in his condition he had no chance against these two.

Cloud lunged, and Riku lurched out of the way, feeling the sword clip fur from his side as it grazed by him. He backed up still further, and nearly tripped over Roxas, who had finally gotten to his feet.

The blonde wolf was snarling at the two men, but his gaze was resting upon Riku, and the injuries that he had sustained seemed like nothing compared to the silver wolf. Roxas shook his head, embarrassed that he had been weakened so by one shot. He growled at Riku, trying to tell him to get away from here, but the silver canine huffed, shaking his head.

Cloud growled and swung again, the sharp metal carving a line of bright red across the side of Roxas' face. Roxas yelped and jumped away, right into the sights of the brunette. Just having landed, Roxas could only watch as Leon pulled the trigger.

The shot rang out, and there was a yell of pain. Roxas whined in confusion and surprise as Sora fell, clutching his shoulder. Riku barked, running towards his friend, but Cloud blocked him, the sword across his shoulder, ready to strike, and Riku backed off, aware of what the weapon would do to him if it connected.

Roxas, on the other hand, was at Sora's side in a second, whimpering. Sora grinned weakly at him, chuckling, "Hey there, blondie."

Using the wolf's back, Sora pulled himself to his feet. Leon stared at him in amazement. "You're…actually protecting that thing?"

"Yeah," Sora grunted. "I am. Because they didn't do a damn thing to anyone."

"It was a wolf that killed Aerith. A _silver _wolf. And right now, we've cornered it. It has nowhere to run. And you're trying to save it? Aerith is _dead—"_

"They didn't do it!" Sora snapped, cutting Leon off angrily. "They wouldn't touch anyone! I've been around them before, they would never do anything to hurt me! Or anyone else, for that matter!"

Cloud glared at the brunette, still keeping an eye on Riku at the same time. "What the hell, Sora?" he said loudly, almost yelling. "It doesn't matter what you think! For all you know, they could've done it! What makes you so sure they didn't do anything to Aerith?"

"B-because…uh…" Sora trailed off, knowing that he was going to pay for this. "Because I know who they are."

There was a loud thud as Sora hit the ground again, his face on fire from where Cloud had punched him. Riku snarled, trying to get to his friend, but he had only taken one step when the tip of the sword was placed against his eye. He froze, not daring to make another move, knowing that the blonde was pissed enough that the slightest movement could set him off. Roxas whined, looking from person to person.

"You lied to us, you son of a bitch!" Cloud shouted as Sora picked himself up, wobbling. "You said you didn't know who they were!"

"Cloud—" Leon started, worried, but Sora interrupted him. "No. He's right. I did lie. But that's only because I knew that if I told you, you'd wait and kill them in broad daylight without thinking about it! I don't want anyone getting hurt!"

"This isn't about people getting hurt, Sora!" Cloud yelled, getting madder. "This is about finding whoever _killed _Aerith, and making sure they pay for what they did!"

"You don't know that either of them did anything! You're just killing them on a hunch, on one piece of evidence! That's not enough to kill them! There's bound to be more than one person with silver hair that's a werewolf! Sephiroth, Xemnas, they all had silver hair, too! Just because there's a wolf with silver hair doesn't mean they did it!"

Cloud thought about it. "But—"

"But nothing!" Sora snapped, getting pissed off. "Say Cid did something stupid, and the only clue that people had was that a blonde did it, and they killed you because your hair was blonde, too! It's a mistake, but it's too late to correct it, because you'd be _dead."_

Marching over to the black-clad man, Sora yanked the sword away from Riku, who immediately, after giving Cloud a haughty look and a sniff, marched over to the brunette, checking his wound carefully. It didn't look too bad, but it was definitely still bleeding. Sora needed to get it looked at.

A stab of pain reminded him of his own injuries, but he did his best to ignore them. Right now, he wanted to get Sora looked at. The Keyblade Master, unfortunately, didn't have a werewolf's regenerative powers, and would keep on bleeding until something stopped it or he died.

Leon, too, seemed to realize this. "Sora…we need to go back and get that looked at," he said, obviously horrified that he had been the one to inflict such an injury. "You could bleed to death if you're not careful."

"Fine, but we'll have to look at those two as well," Sora said stubbornly, pointing at the wolves. He addressed them directly, saying, "You two wait until you change back and then come to the beach where the airship is. We'll be waiting there."

"Oh, no," Cloud said dangerously. "You may have convinced me not to kill them, but I don't trust them in the least. They're coming with us _now."_

Sora started to protest, but Riku nudged his hand. The brunette looked down at the silver wolf, and saw the message in his aqua eyes.

'_It's all right,' _he seemed to say. _'We'll go.'_

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A.N. Augh! Another chapter with a long gap! I'm so sorry, everyone! FORGIVE ME! Je n'ai rien á déclarer.

Anyway, YAAY! Sora got shot! Along with everyone else of course. I also really wanted to see Sora get punched, so I put that in because I felt like it. And yes, I am aware that Cloud didn't ask who they were, but I'm really lazy and he'll find out later anyways.

So thank you to all my beautiful reviewers, and a small message for those who dislike the story: Votre femme dit la même chose de vous. And I love all of you who have stuck with me through this whole stupid thing. Sorry for making you wait in vain for a GOOD chapter. I'm still working on it. XD

P.S. Sephy shall be making his reappearance soon, and Cloud might end up hurting someone after all. Not who you think. Heh heh…

Sans vous je ne suis qu'un ver de terre, mon reviewers!


	4. Chapter 4

A.N. princessOFdarkness, phaz, ChibiFrubaGirl, Haninozuka Mitsukuni (I hope I spelled that right), PP. Bunny, Sera, Chibified Zombie, Kitara Jaganshi, and all of those who are just too lazy to review and are still reading this…thank you so much for sticking with me this far and encouraging me and stuff. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! So this chapter is dedicated to all those who wrote a review, especially those who were there for the first one (princessOFdarkness, phaz, ChibiFrubaGirl, Haninozuka Mitsukuni, PP. Bunny, and Sera) and are still with me today…THIS WHOLE STORY'S FOR YOU GUYS! I LOVE YOU! And if I left anyone out, review and tell me and I'll dedicate the next chapter to you alone. XP

This is from Chris, because I love you so much. ♥

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By the time they got back to the Highwind, Sora had nearly passed out, and was now being supported by the two men. Riku and Roxas were made to walk in front, because, as Cloud put it, "They may not have done anything, but they're werewolves and I don't want the damn things behind me."

The two were happy to oblige, but Riku was skittery, checking behind them every now and then, just to make sure that Cloud hadn't yanked out his sword from the mess of leather that he shoved his weapon into. The routine checks over the shoulder, in turn, made both Leon and Cloud wary and nervous, just as jittery as the silver wolf.

Sora didn't care either way, so lightheaded that he blacked out twice before they finally got him on board. Tifa, Yuffie, and Cid, who had all been pacing inside nervously, all did different things when they caught sight of the odd group. Cid swore, Tifa immediately went to Sora, and Yuffie chased Riku with her shuriken swinging until they could get her to stop.

Finally, though, they were all sitting inside, staring at each other with mixed expressions. Cloud was glaring at Riku, Leon kept sneaking worried glances at the dozing Sora, Tifa's eyes roved from face to face, Yuffie was pouting and polishing her shuriken sulkily, Cid was growling to himself, glaring at anyone who drew his attention, Sora was trying to get the floor to come into focus for more than thirty seconds, Roxas was fussing over the silver wolf, who just stared at the floor. The tension in the air was so thick, they could have cut it with a knife.

Light crept into the horizon, tinting the sky a pale pink. Roxas and Riku's heads both snapped up, looking at it with anxiety. Looking at Sora with identical expressions, Roxas whined. Sora nodded at them, a hand over his bandaged shoulder. "Go ahead," he reassured.

Cloud stiffened as they disappeared out the door. "Where are they going?" he snarled at the brunette, who winced and shook his head. "Relax, Cloud. When they Change back, they're not…decent."

The blonde opened his mouth, decided against it, and sat back, fuming. The edge of the sun strained over the edge of the ocean, and he sat up again, snapping, "Where are they? The sun's up, they should be—"

A timid knocking interrupted his rant, and their heads whipped around to the door. Roxas edged into the airship, hoping that no one was going to swing a sword or aim a gun at him. Cloud glared at him. "Are you—"

"U-um…woof?" Roxas said, grinning more out of nerves than out of amusement. The clean shirt that he had on was slowly turning red as the wound that Leon had inflicted still bled, having reopened with all his movement. He grinned nervously at them, and Riku poked his head in behind him.

"No one's trying to kill us now, right?" he asked, completely serious, because Cloud looked about ready to rip off heads. Already, his hand crept up towards the hilt of his sword over his shoulder, but it halted as everyone glared at him.

"Come in, whoever you are," Yuffie chirruped happily, not really getting into the whole werewolf-killing mood. The two shuffled in, anxious and embarrassed. Riku's hand was held over his shoulder, and blood was slowly running down his arm. Still, he kept his face impassive, not sure of what these people wanted to see. Roxas was the opposite, glancing around nervously from face to face, wincing at the pain that the shot to the side had caused. The baggy dark blue shirt was still turning a dark purple, and Riku glanced at the blonde with concern.

"So…who are you?" Cloud growled, and Roxas gulped, realizing that the maniac who had tried to kill them was asking him.

"U-um, I'm Roxas," he said, then, with a look at the silverhair beside him, said, "A-and this is Riku."

Everyone's heads swiveled towards Sora, who blinked and shrank slightly at the sudden attention.

"You mean…this is the one you were looking for the whole time? This is Riku?" Leon asked, incredulous. Sora nodded, and Cid whistled.

"Yeah," the brunette nodded. "That's him. When I found him, though, he…wasn't like he is now. Meaning, he wasn't a werewolf. That happened after we got back."

"How did it happen?" Cloud asked, still not taking his eyes off the two werewolves standing before him.

"Um…" Sora trailed off, not wanting to reveal exactly what had occurred, but Roxas jumped in for him. "It was me. I didn't mean to, it was a complete accident! But it was me that bit him."

Just as Cloud drew his sword and pointed it at Roxas, Riku stepped in front of the blonde, glaring, even as the cold steel tip pressed into his chest.

"What do you mean, it was an _accident?" _Cloud snarled. "How do you bite someone by _accident?"_

Sora leaped in to cover the awkward silence that followed. "It's a long story…Riku was trying to protect me."

"It still doesn't explain why he was attacking in the first place, now that we've ruled out 'accidents.' If he was protecting you, then there was obviously something going on that caused him to attack."

"I…" Sora said haltingly, not knowing how they would take this, but knowing that it would most definitely be negative. "I…goaded him into trying to bite me. I attacked him, first."

There was a long, dreadful silence, and then the entire Traverse Town gang exploded into a unanimous, "_WHAT?!" _Sora flinched at the shout, nodding miserably. "Yeah…it was my fault that this happened. I didn't really think about the consequences…I just did it. It was a stupid thing to do."

"Damn right it was stupid!" Tifa exclaimed, and he blinked, not used to that kind of abuse from her. But she was really worked up, already high-strung due to Aerith's death, and now she couldn't help herself. "Why would you _do _something like that? Purposely egg on a werewolf so that he'll bite you? Are you insane?"

Sora shrugged. "I dunno…I…wasn't thinking…"

Cloud growled, but pulled the sword away from Riku nonetheless. Roxas sighed, relaxing, but Riku wasn't at ease, less so than before even, wary of the enraged blonde man more than he had been before. There was just no relaxing around these people…

Roxas shook his head, saying quietly, "I-it's still partly my fault…Sora was saying stuff that of course I didn't like, but…I shouldn't have let it get to me like that. I shouldn't have risen to that kind of stuff."

Riku interrupted. "You didn't do anything wrong, Roxas. I'm also partly to blame. I shouldn't have let Sora say stuff like that to you, I could have shut him up somehow."

Everyone stared between the three, who were all looking at the floor in embarrassment. Yuffie coughed uncomfortably, bringing everyone back to the present. Tifa stood, saying briskly, "Well, that's all past us now, and we're all here right now and there's no changing what happened, no matter whose fault it was. And, by the look of things, those two are going to pass out any second unless we can get those wounds to stop bleeding."

"And clean up the mess on the floor," Cid grumbled. "Damn wolves got blood everywhere."

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Twenty minutes later, they were all arguing about what they should do, with Cloud hanging back and glaring most of the time, only putting in a few words every now and then. Riku, on the other hand, stayed silent, just thinking about it all, and the two glanced at each other every now and then, just to make sure that the other wasn't about to start killing anything.

"But what if we all just went out in a big search for this silver wolf?" Sora was saying. "We all just start looking."

Tifa shook her head. "It's too risky. None of us are familiar with the territory, and we could all too easily get separated and lost."

"But it could still work, if we had some way to communicate."

"We don't have that kind of technology with us," Cid growled, scratching his chin again.

"But I'm sure that Riku and Roxas are more familiar with the forest than any of us. What if we had two groups, and each took one of them?"

"No," Cloud snapped. "I don't want to be in the middle of a bunch of trees I'm not familiar with and accompanied by a werewolf." He spat the name out digustedly, and everyone winced at the callousness.

"That, and Cloud'll probably take the advantage of killing Riku in the dark," Yuffie grumbled, and the group snickered and put their heads down as Cloud glared suspiciously at them.

Riku finally spoke up, muttering, "What if Roxas and I search the forest with two others, and the rest of you search the mainland? Just because he's a wolf doesn't mean that he's hiding out in the forest. I mean, it's most likely, but if he's smart, then he'll probably start by staying somewhere else."

Everyone thought about it, and then another discussion was opened up, this time finding and fixing the flaws in that plan. Cloud caught Leon's eye, and the brunette nodded slightly. If this plan was chosen, then he wanted to be one of the two in the forest with the wolves. He didn't want to be in the forest alone with them, but he didn't want there to be two people out there with them that trusted the wolves, especially Riku.

The final plan was laid out. It was pretty much along the same lines as what the silverhair had originally said. Four would go into the forest, while the other three would search the main island quickly. Cid would be searching by airship, and when the others had finished the search of the island, they'd guard the border of the forest, not going in deep, in case whatever silver wolf tried to make a break for it.

The residents of Destiny Islands filed out. All wanted to get some sleep to ensure that they stayed up for that night, anxious. As Riku passed through, a hand grabbed the front of his shirt, and his shoulder twinged painfully as Cloud pulled him close, growling, "I still don't trust you, werewolf."

Riku just stared back, saying coldly, "It's my hair. It's not going to change, and it's not my fault that it's like this. And I didn't expect you to trust me just like that, but I did at least hope that you were going to call me by name, _Cloud."_

Cloud snarled at the silverhair, snapping, "Well you thought _wrong. _And until tonight, I won't trust you until I really have to. But," he said menacingly, looking the boy right in the eye, "if we don't find anything tonight, then I _will _hold you responsible for Aerith's death, and believe me, you don't want that. Because if you do anything, _anything _that looks even vaguely suspicious, I swear to God I will ram this sword down your throat before you can even blink."

Riku returned the blonde's glare, not even a bit fazed by the declaration. "I don't think that'll help you find the _real _killer any time soon." With that, he jerked himself out of Cloud's grip, ignoring the pang of protesting agony from his injuries. He started to walk to start, but stopped suddenly, as though just remembering something. Turning, he bowed with mock chivalry, a dangerous glint in his eye.

"I look forward to seeing you this evening, Cloud," he said, smiling. Cloud's eyes narrowed as the silverhair pivoted and walked away, trying to resist the urge to plunge the sword straight through this brat's back. He turned back, a slight smile playing about his lips.

"I look forward to this night as well, _werewolf," _he said, voice low. His eyes narrowed as he slid his thumb across the edge of the silver weapon, grinning as a bead of blood gathered in the cut. "Very much."

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A.N. Oh, there's gonna be some shit goin' down TONIGHT! WOOT! I'll be typing like a maniac for the next chapter, 'cuz it's got angst and blood and Sephy-kun in it (why did I just call him that..?). Sorry that this chapter took so long, but it was boring. All they're doing is threatening each other and arguing. So, yeah, it took me a while. But I think the next one'll be up quicker.

Nein, mein Fuhrer!

Heh heh heh…I am so naïve.

I love you all, mein reviewers!

(Wow, French to German. What's next, Ibenglibish! In which I am fluent, I'll have you know (Ibi ciban spibeak Ibenglibish. Ciban yibou?)

This is BlackFlacon002 (coughChriscough) signing off! (Gir falls from the ceiling and crushed me.) MY SPINE!

God, I'm stupid…


	5. Chapter 5

A.N. Yo, mein revistas! Te amê, shitze! Whoever can identify those languages gets a…prize? I don't have anything to give you, though….;-; So yeah, love you all who are still here, because I didn't think anyone had that kind of patience. Blood and gore should be next chapter, not very much in this one.  whoa, I tried typing in an emoticon and this popped up, how did that happen? Weird…and the arrow, too, I didn't do that…crazy shit! Give me your guesses and opinions about this chapter…I'll be happy. ♥

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'This is pointless,' Riku thought irritably, watching Cloud and Leon as they followed the wolves to the edge of the forest. 'Why are _they _coming with us, when it would be far more reasonable to find another pair that _doesn't _hate our guts?' He growled softly, his feet making no noise in the sand as they jogged along the beach.

Roxas could feel the discontent pouring from the other wolf in waves, and he whined, knowing that if he could feel it, then the two men behind them probably would pick up on it. He nudged the silver wolf, trying to get him to calm down. Riku seemed to understand, sighing deeply and looking up as the forest drew closer and closer.

'A search for a silver wolf in a dark forest, accompanied by two people that would prefer it if our heads were removed,' Riku thought bitterly, 'Wonderful.' He had gotten Roxas' message, but he couldn't help it. The way that Cloud had looked at him, condescending and amused, worried him. He thought that the blonde would have been just as angry as last night. Instead, his entire mood had changed, and it worried the silverhair to no end. What was Cloud planning…?

Behind them, Cloud was grumbling to himself under his breath. 'Great. Now I get to go and search for a silver wolf through this whole damn forest, when I'm thoroughly convinced that the one who did it is searching with me. Whoop-de-flipping doo,' he thought grimly. He was amazed at how the wolves had recovered from their wounds, and even now Riku had barely a limp from his wounded shoulder and side. He didn't like it. Leon put a hand on his shoulder, murmuring, "It's all right, Cloud. We'll find out tonight if he really did it or not."

Still a bit miffed, Cloud nodded. But, in his opinion, Riku seemed to be acting differently tonight, much more cautious and nervous than their previous encounter. It unnerved the blonde, and he thought to himself, 'He must be planning something…'

The four continued on, their thoughts jumbling and racing as they tried to figure everything out; what they were doing here, how they'd find the silver wolf, how to get their companion to calm down, and just what the other was planning to do in that forest…

Unbeknownst to them, cold, steely-blue eyes watched them as they proceeded to the dark woods, a feral grin on the canine face as the lean, lupine body slipped from shadow to shadow, bright silver fur dulled by the darkness.

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Sora swore as he continued to comb the streets for any sign of a silver wolf. He doubted that they'd be able to find it, and he was becoming increasingly worried about the ones heading to the forest. What would happen if they did meet up with whatever had killed Aerith? Would they really be able to hold their own against it? He growled, hitting the side of a building in frustration as the night continued to get longer.

A hand on his shoulder made him turn, and he looked to see Tifa standing there, her hand soft and comforting.

"Don't worry," she said softly, soothingly, "Either they'll find it or we will, but we'll find it."

"It's not that I'm worried about," he admitted. "I'm worried about what happens when they _do _find it."

Tifa nodded. The same dilemma was racing through her mind, and she knew exactly what Sora was going through. It was driving her crazy, too.

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "They'll all be okay. If they do find it, they'll be able to fight it off."

Sora nodded, feeling a bit better for hearing that from the fighter. "I hope you're right…well, let's go. The sooner I get to the forest, the better I'll feel."

Tifa nodded, and they continued their search, unaware of what was going on in the forest at that moment.

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Riku and Roxas ran together, matching each other stride for stride. They weaved around trees, rocks, and various other obstacles, always keeping in sight of each other. It had been unanimously decided that the pairs had to stay together. If one duo found the other wolf before the other, then they would alert the other pair to the discovery in whatever way they could.

It took all of their concentration to focus on staying together, avoiding upcoming obstacles, and looking every whichway for the silver wolf. Thus, they both failed to notice the figure above them, leaping from tree to tree elegantly and silently. If there was a rustle of leaves, it was immediately hidden by the wind blowing and shaking the trees.

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Leon swore as he raced through the trees. 'That fucking Cloud!' he thought, pissed off. 'Just left and ditched me! What the hell is he thinking?' He swerved around a large tree, trying to find either Cloud or the wolves, but preferably the irritable blonde. He wasn't looking forward to meeting up with werewolves, no matter what side they were on, in the forest in the middle of the night.

"Shit," he growled, starting to run faster as chills ran down his spine. "This whole place is fucking creepy…"

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Cloud tore through the forest, his blue eyes searching below him. He had to find whoever had killed Aerith, and if this was the only way, then so be it.

Either way, someone was going to pay for what had happened.

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Riku slowed his pace, growing increasingly wary of the fact that someone was watching them. Roxas turned back, not expecting the sudden change in speed. Whining a question, he looked at Riku, confused.

Riku, for once, ignored him, staring all around them, trying to figure out who was watching them. His gaze swept around him, trying to permeate the dark forest with his eyes. Seeing nothing suspicious, he growled in irritation, shaking his head. He kept on, but slower this time. Someone was definitely watching them, he decided, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

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The foreboding feeling crept up on Sora, and he shivered, rubbing his arm with his free hand. Tonight was probably one of the worst he had ever experienced, next to the one where Riku was trying to bite his head off.

Still, even as they finished their searching, coming up empty-handed, the uneasiness didn't leave the brunette. He glanced at Tifa, and could tell that she was feeling the same way as she looked back, worry apparent in her brown eyes. He nodded, and jogged towards the forest, Yuffie on their tail, wondering why the tension in the air had suddenly tripled.

i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i

Riku stopped suddenly, whirling as a dark shape hurled itself at the two wolves. Silver flashed, and Roxas whined as his side was scored deeply. The shape had disappeared as soon as it had come, vanishing in the dark like a phantom.

'Was that fur or metal?' Riku thought, checking on Roxas worriedly. 'I couldn't see…dammit, if that was Cloud…'

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A.N. Who's that hiiiiiiiiiding, in the treeeeeeeeetops, it's that raaaaaaaaaascal…………THE JITTERBUG!

Okay, no, seriously, any guesses? Who was that flash of silver…have the team been playing into Sephy's hands this whole time, or was it actually Cloud, angry and wanting revenge….? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! We'll see if you're right, and soon! The time it's taking me to update is shrinking, let's see what I can do! WHEE!

Porque, me dices? Porque te quiero, todos que estan leendo este mensaje! TE QUIERO! MUCHISIMO! (Sorry, I'm too lazy to put in the damn accents)

Darte prisa con sus notas y opiniones, revistas! (hahah, I just called my reviewers newspapers, for lack of a better Spanish name…oops…)

Oh, and for all who don't know, Gir is from Invader Zim, which was cancelled off of Nickleodeon and made bunches of people angry. Heh heh…not me though. I have the DVD's. PWNED! Wootness. Love you all, absolute BUNDLES of love and happiness and…just review, k? This is getting pathetic…

Love, Chris :3


	6. Chapter 6

A.N. Yo, reviewers! I love y'all! The story is progressing, and now you can find out who it was that attacked them! Yippee! I hope that this chapter satisfies all of your needs for violence and high-speed chase scenes with trees. Oh, and someone else is getting hurt, someone you probably weren't expecting…Mwahahaha, I love hurting characters sooo much…actually, scratch that, two people are getting hurt. I feel like being generous. Rubs hands in glee and anticipation Hwahahaha…chapter six, here we go!

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"Cloud!" Leon called out, starting to become a little worried. It had been stupid for the blonde to go off by himself, and now Leon had no idea where anything was. 'Damn trees all look alike,' he thought to himself, irritated. A cut in a tree to his right caught his attention, making him stop, and he took a closer look.

It wasn't a sword slash. The cut he saw had four twins, identical grooves, all parallel. Something had whacked at this tree…something that definitely had claws. And, as Leon looked closer, it was fresh. Sap oozed out of the slices, the ripped-up bark around it still green.

Leon heard a snap behind him and turned, but it was too late.

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Riku and Roxas looked up as the yell echoed around the forest. They looked at each other, and immediately took off, sprinting towards the sound.

They rushed up just as Cloud arrived, and both saw Leon, leaning against a tree as blood poured from his side. He held the Gunblade loosely in his grip, and as they watched, it fell, slipping from his grasp as he slumped over.

"Leon!" Cloud yelled, running to the brunette's side. He turned Leon over onto his back, surveying the damage quickly. It didn't look like a bite mark, but it was deep. Five slashes, all in a row, lined the brunette's skin, leaking blood, turning the soil underneath him to dark mud. Riku and Roxas hung back, unsure of what they should or could do, watching as the blonde fashioned a makeshift bandage from his supplies.

Standing up, he turned on the wolves angrily. "Who did this?"

They looked at him, confused, both thinking the same thing: How would they know, and how was he expecting them to answer?

Realizing that his questioning was pointless, he pointed an accusatory finger at the silver wolf, glaring. "It had better not have been you, or—"

Roxas growled, and Cloud trailed off, knowing that all of this was getting nowhere. He looked down at the unconscious Leon, indecision on his face. Finally, he said, "He'll probably be safe here. We should keep looking."

Riku snorted, turning around. 'No one's _safe,' _he thought scornfully. 'Leon was a good fighter, but even he was taken by surprise. What I want to know is where _you _were, Cloud…'

Roxas stared between the blonde and the silverhair, confusion flashing across his lupine face before he walked after Riku, glancing uncertainly over his shoulder once more. Cloud, however, noticed something. Five parallel cuts, etched into Roxas' blonde fur, standing out angry and red…

'The only one he's been around is Riku…' he thought, looking back at Leon. There could have been time enough, between the time Leon was attacked to run off and double back in the forest without him noticing…

"Shit…" he growled, leaping into the trees and quickly following the wolves through the darkness, taking one last look at the brunette.

'Sorry, Leon,' he thought, 'but I have to find out if it really was him. And if it was…he'll die.'

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Roxas' mind was racing along with him as he ran through the forest, keeping stride with Riku. The silver wolf now seemed even more on edge than before, and Roxas thought he knew exactly why. The attack on Leon was almost identical to the one on Roxas' side, and both knew that Cloud had noticed.

But now, they both also noticed the dark shape above them, following their every move. Riku caught Roxas' eye, and the blonde wolf nodded, smiling inwardly. He loved doing this.

It was something that they had planned out that day. If they were being followed while they were together, they would separate and relocate somewhere else once they were sure that they had lost whoever it was.

A tree, larger than most even in this forest, approached, and they split around it, heading in opposite directions as they streaked around it and veered off.

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Cloud swore as the two separated, instantaneously deciding to follow Riku. Turning to the left, he leaped after him, his eyes never leaving the silver wolf. However, it was evident that Riku had held back some speed when he was with Roxas, and as much as Cloud didn't want to admit it, he was getting farther and farther away.

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Riku grinned, knowing that his pursuer was falling behind rapidly, adding another burst of speed for good measure.

He figured that whoever it was, whether Cloud or the other silver wolf, would follow him. He just wanted to lose this person and get back to Roxas so they could continue searching fruitlessly.

It seemed as though that wasn't an option, though, as he saw a lupine figure, shining silver in the light of the full moon, step in front of him. He tried to stop, but couldn't in time, swerving to the side. He winced as the other wolf slashed at him. He ducked, feeling fangs graze him. He fought his body to a halt, turning quickly…but the other wolf was gone. The only evidence he left was the small cut above Riku's right eye that slowly trickled blood. He shook his head, turning to start his race through the forest, but froze as a voice called out behind him, "Where do you think _you're _going, _werewolf?"_

Riku turned, coming face to face with the heavy blade, held in Cloud's grip. The blonde was glaring at him dangerously. "Why did you run?" Cloud challenged, taking a swipe at the silver wolf, who ducked away from it quickly. "You wouldn't run if you didn't have something to hide!" he yelled, charging at Riku with the sword leveled at the wolf's head.

Riku ducked to the side, feeling it pierce him coldly, thinking, 'How the hell does this guy's logic work?'

He tried to run, but was stopped as he felt something grab his tail, pulling him back and slamming him heavily into a tree. He yelped, struggling to his feet, as the enraged Cloud snapped at him, "Come on, wolfy, admit it, you're the one who killed Aerith and hurt Leon!"

'I can't admit anything, shitrag!' Riku thought angrily. 'One, I didn't do anything! Two, I can't talk! And three, you'd think I was lying anyway!' Still, he whined in protest. The message, of course, didn't get across. Cloud swung, and Riku ducked quickly. The sword buried itself into the tree he had been flung against, going nearly halfway through.

Before Cloud could pull it out, Riku made another attempt at an escape, ducking around the sword and trying to get around the tree.

A gloved hand closed on the scruff of his neck, digging into his skin painfully as Cloud dragged him back again. He squirmed, trying to break the grip, but it was impossible, and Cloud pulled back and slammed the silver wolf's head into the tree hard. Riku felt the blow just before everything went black, and he slumped in the blonde's grip. Cloud dropped him scornfully, brushing his hands on his pants in disgust. He pulled out the sword, from the tree, now cracked from the force of the beating it had taken from both weapon and wolf, leveling it at the unconscious Riku.

He drew back, preparing for the strike, but stopped as a howl echoed around the woods. He stared in the direction it had come from. That was the signal that the werewolves had said they would use if they found it…the silver wolf…

Cloud glanced at Riku, breathing hard, before running towards the sound. He put all his speed into it, the feeling growing in his stomach.

'I made a mistake…' he said to himself. 'Maybe…'

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A.N. Yaay for this chapter! Another one out of the way, whoohoo! So yes, it was Sephiroth who had followed them. But is that all there is to it?...OF COURSE NOT! YAAY! I'VE GOT A SEEEEECRET THAT'S COMING OUT NEXT CHAPTER! a-hem. So, this one is considerably more violent than the last, for which I hope you'll thank me. (Not really, I don't need thanks. Reviews are good, though. I likes reviews. XP) But thanks to all of you who, once again, have tolerated me this long. I hope the story's getting better for you, now.

Je t'aime, mein reviewers! Nein, t'aime muztanti, ritzun! Dhettek mirswa reledsi an dir nim patchi ma'n stinrozti!

I'll dedicate the stinkin' _story _to you if you can tell me what that says and what language it is!

I lubs you all! Chris


	7. Chapter 7

A.N. All right, cliffhanger is ovah! But, you know, I'll just drop you straight into another one, knowing me….which I don't, so who the hell knows what's gonna happen! Riku's not gonna show up in this one, I think….but I still don't know me well enough, so…might have to change that…

XDXDXDXD ♥

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Roxas separated from Riku, noticing without surprise that their pursuer had chosen to follow the silverhaired wolf. This was both a relief and a worry to the blonde, but he stuck to the plan, slipping silently into the clearing where they had fought before. Roxas shuddered, not liking being there again, especially under these circumstances.

He waited, not really expecting anyone to be there for a while. He had gotten there in under a minute, and didn't think that Riku could shake the chaser off that soon, whether it was the wolf or ex-SOLDIER. Either way, they'd be hard to get rid of.

Instead, he paced, waiting nervously, torn apart by anxiety. He wondered what was going on, listening hard for anything that sounded remotely like a howl or a yell. Instead, he heard the rustling of the trees as the wind blew past, and he looked up nervously. What was going on…?

He was about to go, to try and find them, when someone emerged from the trees on the other side of the clearing. He saw silver and perked up, thinking it was Riku.

The other wolf snarled, and he flinched. Looking closer, he immediately saw his mistake. This wolf was bigger, more muscular than Riku, his silver hair a darker tone. And his eyes. They were steely blue, seeming to look right into Roxas, drawing out every secret and fear that he held within him.

Roxas shivered, but pushed back his fear as best he could, snarling at the intruder, the reason for all this anger and misery. The silver wolf just stared at him impassively, until a foul smile crept onto his face, shining ivory fangs glinting dangerously in the moonlight.

Roxas immediately knew that there was no way he could take on this…thing. He leaned back, howling to the sky, until he felt fangs sink into his neck.

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Cloud flew through the forest, trying to reach the origin of the howl. He felt no regret for doing that to Riku. In his eyes, the silverhair was a cocky brat who thought he knew everything and pretended to be emo for attention. But he had the sneaking suspicion that he would probably regret it if he killed him.

Still, he doubted that the other one, Roxas or whatever, had actually seen the other silver wolf. More than likely, it was a false alarm to draw his attention. He quickened his pace still further.

However stubborn he was, Cloud knew instantaneously that he had been wrong as he saw the wolves ahead of him.

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Roxas whimpered as the silver wolf pulled away, tearing flesh from the blonde's neck. Blood leaked from the wound, puddling at Roxas' feet, sinking into the ground. Still, he kept at his attacker, snarling and darting in, trying to get in a hit of his own. But no matter what he did, the other silver wolf avoided it.

'Dammit!' Roxas thought as once again he missed by a hair. 'What is it with him?'

Another sound behind him caused him to turn slightly, wondering if it was Riku. Instead, something black flew by him, slamming into the silver wolf hard.

Cloud attacked viciously, aiming immediately for anything he could. The wolf skipped back, trying to avoid the metal sword, barely able to keep itself from getting cut in half, such was the fury and speed that the blonde put into his attack.

'Where did he come from?' Roxas thought vaguely, watching the fight. Blood still dripped from his neck and the other places that he had managed to get wounded, but he barely noticed them. 'Where's Riku, then? Isn't Cloud the one who followed him, if the other one was here?'

The wolf finally saw an opening, leaping at Cloud with his ivory teeth bared. The blonde whipped up the sword, and the silver canine bit down on it. They fought, shoving into the weapon as hard as they could, faces not even a foot apart. Their eyes met, and Cloud gasped as he looked into the cold blue orbs of his opponent.

"You…" he whispered, and the wolf responded by throwing all his weight against the sword. Cloud leaped away, the wolf following him, snapping and snarling.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled, furious. "What are you doing here?"

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Sora and Tifa, hurrying as fast as they could, screeched to a halt. In front of them stood a silver wolf, blood dripping from its right leg. It snarled at them before turning and running away. They glanced worriedly at each other, and behind them, Yuffie gave a whoop.

"Finally!" she cheered, disappearing in a flash as she gave chase, with Sora and Tifa hot on her heels.

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'Sephiroth?' Roxas thought, confused. 'I thought Sora and Cloud already beat him. What's he doing here?'

He watched as the two whirled around in a blur of black and silver until reality kicked in, and he looked around. Riku still hadn't shown up.

"Roxas!" Cloud called, and the blonde wolf looked at him. "Go find Riku, he's knocked out! About five minutes' run!"

Roxas hesitated, not wanting to leave Cloud fighting Sephiroth alone, but it looked like he was holding his own. He barked, taking off through the forest.

And was brought to a shattering halt as a dark shape pounced on him from the trees, biting into him and slamming him into the ground.

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Yuffie threw her shuriken, hissing in disappointment as the wolf dodged to the side. It was a lithe, sinewy creature, fast, about the same size as Riku, only a bit thinner, more toned.

Sora growled, lifting Oathkeeper into the air. His hair lifted as bolts of lighting exploded around him, aiming at the wolf, who swerved, trying to avoid the searing energy being thrown at him.

He was unsuccessful, however, as a bolt singed his side. He snarled in anger and pain, veering off to the right hard, making a beeline for the forest.

He skidded to a halt as the ninja appeared in front of him in a puff of smoke. "Nuh-uh, wolfie!" she laughed, waving her shuriken at him condescendingly. "You can't go back just yet! We've gotta make you pay!"

The wolf growled, taking off to the right, and with a yip of glee, Yuffie chased him again, managing to score his side with the weapon as she threw it hard. Blood spattered the ground, but he seemed not to notice.

Sora concentrated, and a ball of ice exploded from the Keyblade. It zeroed in on the fleeing creature, slamming into its side hard. Its body was lifted and thrown hard, coming to a crashing landing a good five yards away. It staggered to its feet, continuing towards the forest unsteadily, half of its side bloody from the impact.

"No you don't!" Sora yelled, and they gave chase again. 'Dammit, this thing's persistent!' he thought as it started to lengthen the gap between them.

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Roxas backed away from the wolf that had tackled him, completely confused. He hadn't even left Cloud for a minute, and this Sephiroth had already…

'No…'he thought, taking a closer look. 'This isn't Sephiroth…it's someone else…'

Indeed, this wolf was different than the one attacking Cloud. It was far more muscular, big and bulky, but with a dangerous elegance.

And, as Roxas was about to find out, crazy speed beyond anything he thought was capable from a lupine.

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Cloud and Sephiroth circled, both seeking an opening, striking at each other every now and then to try and throw each other off guard. Sephiroth snarled, menacing Cloud with his ivory fangs. As much as Cloud wanted to attack without mercy, he knew that it would leave him open. And while that usually didn't bother him, receiving injuries on a daily basis (it was pretty much routine), the thought of becoming a werewolf didn't appeal to him. So he kept up his defenses, not letting Sephiroth through.

Still, it didn't keep him from getting himself scratched up by the wolf's claws, quickly lashed out at him when he wasn't expecting, and Sephiroth himself had several gashes in his fur from the shining sword. Still, they both continued at it, taking every opportunity to take a stab at each other with blade and fang.

Sephiroth, however, was slowly wheeling Cloud around, pushing him back to the very edge of the clearing. Unnoticed by the blonde in the heat of the battle, two eyes stared at him, their greenish-blue tinge set off by the constantly flickering pupil that wavered from rounded to slitted and back, keeping their gaze locked on Cloud hungrily.

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A.N. Uh, oooohhhhh….that's not a good thing. There's an intruder in this little skirmish….three of them, actually. And for all of you who guessed Sephiroth, congrats, you were partly right. But Sephy-kun's not the one that attacked Leon…you'll have to find out which of the others did that….BWAHAHAHAAHAA! YET ANOTHER CLIFF HANGER! Oh, I suck. I know.

But it's all because I love you, reviewers! Je t'aime, jei t'set mirique!

Love, Chris ♥


	8. Chapter 8

God, another huge gap in which I haven't updated...and this is a fairly short chapter, too...I don't really know what I'm doing anymore...and it's really hard to call each of the wolves by a different name...I'd better have someone recognize them damn soon, or I'm going to be struggling with this...anyway, I'm starting to get ideas, but...I'm not sure. I don't think that they'll all die right here and now...none of them...I may have to drag this out another month...or kill them all right here, right now. I need your input, TELL ME.

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Roxas leaped at the new wolf, biting down hard on empty air, teeth snapping together painfully. He blinked in surprise. The silver wolf had disappeared, and as this hit Roxas, so did something else. He whined in pain as fangs scored his side.

'How did he do that..?' the blonde wolf thought, wheeling to attack despite the trickle of blood from his side.

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Cloud swung again, making Sephiroth dodge away from him with a snap. The blonde growled to himself, disappointed that he hadn't been able to wound the silver wolf enough so that he'd slow down at least a little. The werewolves were fast, and Sephiroth could attack one second, then be on your other side the next.

Even now, the lupine was leaping at him, fangs bared in a snarl. He ducked, feeling the wolf pass over him in a rush of air. He spun, cleaving the air in case of a swift counter. Instead, he saw Sephiroth on his right, streaking towards him, and another silver blur, coming straight down on him.

'Riku..?' Cloud thought as time seemed to slow. The newcomer was about the same size, but… 'No,' the blonde thought, almost disappointed. 'It's not…'

His gaze switched between the two, the inescapable reality hitting him…there was no way he could dodge both attacks without being bitten. He braced himself, the silver sword a blur in the moonlight.

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Roxas backed away from the new menace, not knowing what he could do. This wolf could move faster than he could see, an aluminum blur that hit him again and again. No matter what the blonde tried, the wolf eluded it, striking back hard and fast.

'No…' he thought, desperation setting in. "No…what am I supposed to do now…?'

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Sora swore as the silver wolf ahead of him reached the trees, plunging into them with the two women right beside him. A trail of blood led through the trees, and they hurried along, sprinting.

'Crap,' Sora thought, 'He's getting away…damn, he's fast.'

He had just disappeared ahead of them when they caught up. Yuffie screamed and hurled herself at the wolf, striking madly. The wolf just snarled, dodging her attack from where he had been poised dangerously over Leon's form and disappearing into the forest once again. Yuffie turned away, kneeling in the soil next to the unconscious brunette.

"This must be why it was covered in blood," she said, trying not to sob. Leon lay, breathing raspy and irregular, pale. She inspected the bandage, saying, "It was Cloud who put this on…but he's not here…why would he just leave him like this?" She pulled off the blood-soaked rags, gasping. The claw marks were still leaking blood steadily, deep and serious. Yuffie immediately turned to them, saying, "Go on, catch that bastard. I'll stay here and make sure that he's all right and that Cid finds him."

Tifa and Sora hesitated, wanting to help, but one look at Yuffie's expression and they swallowed their doubt, nodding. It was a look that said clearly, 'If you don't find the asshole that did this, then someone's gonna have hell to pay and it sure won't be _me,' _one that neither wanted to argue with.

"All right," Tifa said. "Be careful, and take good care of him."

Yuffie nodded. "I will. Go!" She turned back, leaving them to follow the trail of scarlet spatters into the trees.

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Roxas ducked, feeling sharp fangs graze him again, and he winced. Scores of cuts littered his body, adding to the ones from their mysterious attacker.

'What the hell is going on?' Roxas thought. 'There's more than one, but which one is to blame for all of this?'

There was a snapping twig next to the two of them, and they both turned. Yet another wolf emerged from the trees, dripping in blood.

'Oh, no…' Roxas thought, starting to panic. 'There's another one!' There was a whine from the wolf that he had been fighting, and Roxas looked to see him watching the newcomer with pity and worry in his eyes.

Roxas seized this chance, pouncing on the unsuspecting viciously. He clamped his teeth into the silver fur on his back, ignoring the howl of pain and subsequent attack from the new wolf, who was ripping at him to try and get him off.

'I…I can't…' Roxas thought, his mind vague and distant with pain and blood loss. 'Hold…on…'

A thud sounded, and he watched detachedly as the other wolf hit a tree, thrown hard by a kick from the black-clad woman. Roxas' mind soon was too bleary for him to see much, and his teeth loosened. He barely felt it as he hit the ground, dizzy.

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Sora and Tifa burst onto the scene, pausing for only a second. Roxas was biting deep into a silver wolf's back as the one that they had been chasing snapped at him, ripping into the golden fur and to the flesh below.

Tifa yelled, her black boot connecting with the hunted's head. His body smashed into a tree, and he sank to the ground with a whimper. Roxas, meanwhile, drooped, falling to the forest floor and lying there motionless. Sora shouted, the Keyblade smashing into the wolf's side. The silver body tumbled to the ground, trying to recover, but Tifa flipped, slamming her foot down and grinding his head into the ground. He slumped, out cold.

'Shit…' Sora thought, looking at the two. 'Neither one is Riku…which means that they both could've killed Aerith…which means that there could be more of them.' He stared at Tifa, and she just looked back grimly, thinking the exact same thing.

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Cloud's gaze switched between the two, watching as they both flew towards him. He tensed…

And a silver blur smashed into the wolf above him. Cloud didn't even pause to wonder who it was, blocking Sephiroth's attack with the sword, slashing. Obviously, Sephiroth was surprised, too, and the metal carved across his silver-furred side, leaving a long trail of red that bled onto the floor. He snarled, backing away.

Behind the blonde, the silver wolf and Riku leaped to their feet, snarling and growling at each other. Furious that he had been interrupted, the wolf attacked, fangs slashing. But Riku was equally, if not more, pissed off. First Cloud suspected him of killing someone, tried to kill him…what, three times now? _And, _now that he had caught up, he had needed to pull the blonde's ass out of his predicament? Riku snapped back, glad that he could finally bite something, fighting back viciously.

Blood spattered the ground liberally as the two pairs fought, showing no mercy as they ripped each other apart.

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Tifa and Sora looked back, seeing with shock that the wolf that they had been pursuing had disappeared.

"Dammit!" Sora yelled, looking around him wildly. "How can he take that much damage and still be able to even walk?"

Tifa shook her head. "I have no idea, but one thing's for sure. We have to get Roxas out of here. He's lost a lot of blood from his own damage." Leaning down, she slung the golden wolf over her shoulder, turning to Sora. "I probably can't fight well with him like this, so watch my back, all right?"

"Sure," Sora agreed, hefting Oathkeeper. "I can do that."

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A.N. Oh, yeah, another chapter. Cha-ching. WHO'S GOOD! WHO'S GOOD! Not me, that's for sure. Heh heh heh…I am far too bizarre for words, no?

I love you all oh so much!

Chris


	9. Chapter 9

A.N. Geez, OhmyGod, I'm so SORRY FOR NOT WRITING AND POSTING SOONER! I REALLY DIDN'T MEAN TO, I JUST LOST MOMENTUM AND COULDN'T THINK OF WHAT TO WRITE, BUT I FINALLY GOT IT BACK AND WROTE ALL OF THIS IN ONE HOUR PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEE! (At least, not until I finish the damn story. Then you can. I'd prefer that you didn't, but whatever. I deserve it this time. It's been, like, what….two weeks? Jesus, it has….)

Je t'aime.

Chris

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Riku shook his head, chasing away the blood that was running into his eyes. His lips were drawn back in a feral, blood-streaked snarl, icy and menacing. He lunged, snapping, and felt his fangs sink into fur and flesh. The metallic taste of blood rushed down his throat, nearly making him gag at the sharp, acrid tang of the crimson liquid.

His opponent, the new, mysterious wold that had appeared out of nowhere, was giving as good as he got, fang for fang and blood for blood. The majority of both of their wounds were superficial, excluding a few that poured red from their silver fur, but even those they ignored.

'Shit…' Riku thought, ducking as ivory fangs snapped at his face, hearing them click over his head. 'I need to go all out…I need to aim to kill…dammit!' He was a bit unnerved of it, actually trying to kill a real person/wolf/werewolf/whatever. Sure, he had killed plenty of Heartless, and the Nobodies, but they didn't really count…did they? But then, wasn't Roxas—

Blood flew from his side, adding to the umber of deep injuries that he was accumulating quickly, and he immediately snapped back into reality. 'Well…' he reasoned. 'This guy's an asshole, and aiming for 'mortal injury' has failed miserably, so…' he drove forward, a whirlwind of steely silver fury and resolve, determination gleaming in his cerulean eyes.

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Sora whirled as the branches rustled, and he barely got Oathkeeper up in time before the sleek silver bullet slammed into him, ivory fans halting not six inches in front of his face. Sora shoved forward with all his strength, sending the sterling wolf stumbling backwards.

Instead of landing gracefully, as he had before, the wolf tumbled hard onto the ground, whining in pain as he tried to stagger to his feet, more red than silver now. His injuries finally took their staggering effect on his broken body, and the greenish-blue eyes rolled up in his head, and the wolf crumpled to the ground, pain and blood loss overcoming him.

The only two left conscious were tense, listening and watching warily for any sign of movement or attack. None came. Slowly, Sora lowered Oathkeeper, letting the bloodstained tip of he Keyblade rest against the damp soil.

"Jesus," Sora breathed. "That bastard took so fucking long to bite it, it's not even funny."

"I find it amazing that it's still alive," Tifa said, equally amazed. Sora edged forward, shuffling over the ground, poking the wolf carefully, tensed and prepared to fight, with the hued Keyblade. Once he determined that it was genuinely out cold, he turned to Tifa, a grin spreading across his face.

"How much can you carry?" he asked slyly.

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Cloud swung his sword viciously, forcing Sephiroth to back off, snarling and incredibly pissed off.

"Why the hell did you have to come right back into my life?" he yelled, furious, as he looked for an opportunity to cut this damn lupine in half. "Why can't you ever just stay dead?"

'Dammit, Cloud,' Riku thought, busy with his own opponent, but still able to hear the blonde. 'Can't you ever just shut your mouth and focus on killing these bastards?' He snapped, and was rewarded by a snarled whimper of pain and a short spray of blood painting the floor of the forest.

Cloud, however, could not hear him, as he was busy as well. He drove forward with the sword, swearing as it only managed to clip the huge silver wolf on the side, blocking as the wolf leaped at him.

'And I have to be careful,' he thought, trying to keep his head. 'I let him get near me with those teeth, and I'll be turned into one of these furry bastards, too.' He shuddered, unable to think about it for too long. For one, it was an unpleasant thought, and it was also distracting him.

A new distraction came, however, in the form of yet another silver wolf that stumbled into the clearing.

"Shit!" Cloud yelled. "How many of you bastards are there?"

'Well,' Riku thought, 'I can't blame him for that one, at any rate.'

The new wolf was bleeding heavily from the head, but he seemed to ignore it as he looked at Riku's opponent with utter despair written across his features. He whined at the silver wolf, motioning with his head.

The wolf that Riku had been fighting snarled, disappearing into the forest as the other three looked on, following the newcomer into the dark woods.

Sephiroth barked at them, what sounded like an order, but they didn't return, and he turned away from Cloud, seemingly to chase after them. He didn't finish, though, as he was tackled by Riku, who had no intention of letting anyone get away right now. Sephiroth retaliated, slashing, and Riku danced back, shooting a glance at Cloud. The blonde immediately caught the gist of the look.

'I'm not letting this one get away,' it said. 'You make sure that the other one doesn't, either.'

In a rush of black cloth, Cloud was gone, after the pair like a shadow. Albeit, a shadow with a sword and a fury that had just grown with the night's events.

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Sora swung as the wolf burst from the trees, barely having time to recognize it as the one that Roxas had been biting, before it was upon him, snapping its fangs around Oathkeeper, trying to pull it from his grasp. Sora went with the force, whirling and sending the wolf flying. It landed on its feet, much to his dismay.

Tifa yelled, and Sora caught, out of the corner of his eye, another one leaping at her, and that the two wolves that she had been carrying had been disposed of on the ground, silver, ruby, and gold crumpled on the soil in a heap.

"Tifa!" he yelled, before a snarl took his attention away, and he blocked his wolf's attack as it leaped at him again. It had barely reached him when Tifa came from its flank, boot smashing into its side. Sora could swear that he heard cracks before the wolf reeled away, wheezing.

"Tifa…?" he asked, confused. Tifa jerked her head, and he turned to see Cloud hacking away at the wolf, who was trying to avoid the blonde.

"Looks like someone's got it for me," she said, eyeing the man. "And that someone is pissed off," she added. Sora nodded.

The silver wolf that was facing them was snarling, still, and they focused on it, glaring. It showed hesitation, knowing that it was probably going to lose this fight, but still, it leaped at them once more.

It never stood a chance. Both Tifa's fist and Sora's Keyblade hit it at the same time, and it crumpled to the ground without another sound, blood flowing from its wounds liberally.

Sora watched over it to make sure that it wasn't going to attack anyone, and Tifa looked towards Cloud, who was still engaged with the silver wolf.

He caught her eye, yelling, "Go, Tifa! Get to the airship with them, I'll be finished with this…thing shortly, and the sun's coming up." Indeed, the horizon was looking distinctly pinkish around the edges, and they all glanced at it. With a look at the other two, the silver wolf snarled in obvious displeasure, disappearing into the forest. Cloud swore, taking off after it. Tifa thought about chasing the two of them, but decided that it probably wasn't worth it. Besides, there was no way that Sora could carry those three, or even two (maybe one, he was pretty scrawny) of the wolves on his own.

So, with a sigh, she turned back to the Keyblade Master and the three unconscious werewolves. 'Wonderful, Cloud,' she thought. 'Go have some fun while I clean the mess. Asshole.'

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Cloud focused on the wolf running below him as he raced above through the trees, judging the moment to be right, and leaped down, sending the wolf flying, tumbling into the ground, as his black boot hit it on the side hard.

And it was just at that moment that the sun broke over the horizon, bathing the woods in sunlight.

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Sephiroth stood over the silver-haired teen, malice shining in his blue-green gaze. Riku, barely able to stand, staggered to his feet, the new injuries from the silver-haired werewolf showing red on his crimson skin.

"Did you really think that you could stop me?" Sephiroth said, voice smooth and laden with amusement.

Riku laughed painfully. "Nah, not really," he said, voice raspy. Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow. "Then why try?"

Riku shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I didn't feel like running after that one any more, so fighting you here seemed like a better idea." He grinned, hand over the deep gash over his chest. "Guess that wasn't a good idea after all, but you know what? I don't care. I tried."

"Very noble," the One-Winged Angel said, shaking his head sadly. "But you're still just a dog."

Riku bristled. "What was that?" he said defensively, glaring.

Sephiroth laughed at his reaction. "What, surprised? Well, it's true. Look at you. Running around after us, when really you should be _with_ us, fighting against the _humans_." He spat out the word like it tasted bad.

"And why's that?" Riku challenged, but was unable to say any more as a hand closed over his throat, cutting off his air.

"Because," Sephiroth hissed. "We can make you strong. We can teach you to forget about your pathetic emotions, and become the powerful being that you've always wished that you could be."

Riku stiffened, and Sephiroth laughed coldly. "How do I know about that? Well, it's obvious. You look exactly like us, brat. Power-hungry and willing to do anything to get it. You didn't fight me because you didn't want to run any more, you fought me because you wanted to see if you could beat me."

"Don't…flatter…yourself," Riku rasped, fighting against the hand circling his throat like a vise. "There's…no…way that…I would…ever…join…you."

Sephiroth looked at him, what almost looked like sorrow flashing across his face. "Pity," he muttered.

There was a jerk, and Riku's eyes widened. His mouth opened, blood pouring from between his lips in a flood, running down his pale body like a crimson waterfall. Sephiroth let him go, and he crumpled to the ground, blood puddling around him. The silver-haired man looked down on him contemptuously, the bloodstained sword in his hand, the end of it still buried in Riku's stomach. He yanked it out viciously, turning away from the silverhair, who lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood, cerulean eyes half-shut and slowly clouding over as his breath lengthened in his chest.

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Cloud stared at the silver-haired man in front of him, who glared back with an all-too-familiar blue-green gaze.

"Kadaj…" he breathed. Kadaj took advantage of his surprise, slamming a fist straight into the blonde's nose and running for it. Cloud shook his head, wondering if he should try and find the silver-haired man. And although he wanted to, he decided against it. The silverhair was fast, and, although he wouldn't admit it, Cloud was tired from the constant running and fighting and losing blood.

"Shit," he muttered, turning his back, but a thought struck him, and he looked back through the trees.

'What happened to Riku?' he thought, curiosity and worry creeping, unwanted and unappreciated, into his psyche. 'I hope he's all right…'

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A.N. Yeah, sorry to leave it like that. And I don't know if Riku's dead or not…eh heh heh…you'll just have to wait until next time to find THAT out. Bwahahahahaaaa. And I wasn't really meaning to put CloudXRiku in here, but if you found it, good for you. If you don't like it, then I apologize, 'cuz I didn't actually see it until I read it again. And yes, Cloud is worried about Riku. The damn bastard saved his life/humanity. He owes him something, right?

Je'mme s'rtai mentaai shii mo onne mistinh gwah min tovrah.

I really do love you all, because you're there and reading this and criticizing and I love you for it. I really do. Love. Seriously.

Chris


	10. Chapter 10

A.N. Well hello everyone. I apologize for not posting sooner, but my entire computer went ptooie, and I wasn't able to get anything done. That, and now that the fighting's over, I'm not sure what to do. I think Loz and Yazoo are going to have an interesting role in infuriating Cloud by making fun of him. Teehee! YAY! PS I love Yazoo. He's probably my favorite of the three. Although Kadaj is more sadistic and crazy…well, anyway, that's not important. Just…read and review. Or I'll cry. Grr.

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Roxas' eyes flickered open to see a semi-familiar surrounding. It took him a second or two to recognize the inside of Cid's airship, and a couple more to notice how two people were watching at him.

"Hey," Sora said, relieved at seeing that Roxas was awake. "You all right?"

Roxas snorted. "No, but I'll be fine. How's everyone else?" He looked around the room. "Where's Riku?"

Tifa glanced at Sora. "I don't know. Cloud's not back, either." Sora nodded in confirmation. Roxas rubbed his bandaged head, looking around. Leon was lying in a bed next to him, back to the group. If Roxas hadn't known how Leon had been hurt, he would have thought that the brunette was sulking. But he did know, and he knew that Leon wasn't a werewolf. He healed at the normal pace, not helped along by werewolf blood, or whatever it was that helped them heal so fast.

"How's he doing?" Roxas asked, nodding at Leon. Tifa glanced briefly in that direction, shaking her head. "He'll be fine. Yuffie was with him all night, and refused to leave. We could only get her out when you came, because we said that she'd bother you." Roxas winced, knowing how well _that _conversation must have gone. "Well, thanks," he said, and Sora laughed. "We didn't do it for you. We did it for Leon. He's probably the one who's irritated the most, whether or not he's conscious."

Roxas grinned, glad that normality had been somewhat restored. He clambered out of the bed, saying, "Well, I'm sure that we must be irritating as well to a sociopath like Leon, so maybe we should leave, too. Just let the guy rest for a while."

A snort from the bed made him smirk, and they all trooped out of the door, leaving the pouting Leon alone.

Roxas, expecting to see Cid and Yuffie, was amazed when he walked into the room.

"Um…Sora? Tifa?" he said slowly. "Who are these guys, and why are they tied up like that?"

Tifa looked at the two silverhaired men, the huge, muscular Loz, and the thin, sinewy Yazoo, tied back to back and, for good measure, to the wall by an iron loop. Neither was awake, and both looked a bit worse for the wear.

"We caught these two last night," Sora grinned, pride obvious in his voice. "They kept attacking us, so we brought them back here."

Roxas sighed, shaking his head. "So there's these two…are there any more?"

Tifa nodded. "I think there's one more, at least. Probably two, but at the least one. It attacked us as well, but Cloud chased after it. No idea if he caught the bastard or not, but I hope he did."

A clatter outside drew their attention, and they all looked through the door. Cloud hurried into the room, carrying a limp figure in his arms, the pale body blood-drenched and unmoving. His stomach was a gory mass of torn flesh, and the sight of it was enough to make almost anyone feel sick; no skin was visible under the blood that still leaked from it steadily.

At the sight of the two, Roxas leaped to his feet.

"Riku!" he said, starting to run towards them, but Sora held him back as Tifa followed Cloud into the next room. The silverhair didn't move, head thrown back and gaping wounds evident on his body.

"I…It's all r-right," Sora said, but his voice was shaky and frightened. He was no longer the Keyblade Master that had defeated the Organization XIII. He was a just a teenager that was worrying about his best friend that, for all he knew, was already dead. Still, he held Roxas as the blonde sobbed into his shoulder, patting his back. "Tifa and Cloud will see to him…it'll be okay in the end. Don't worry…" he knew words were useless, of course, but it wasn't the blonde that he was trying to convince.

"No…" Roxas cried, voice muffled. "If I had been there to help him, then this never would have happened. He wouldn't have gotten hurt like that!"

"It's not your fault," Sora reassured, glad that he could finally reassure without lying through his teeth. He had no idea if it really was going to be okay, but he was sure that none of this was really Roxas' fault. If anyone's, it was his. "You didn't do anything."

"Exactly!" Roxas said, pulling back and looking his Other in the face. "If I had been there, then I could have done something to help him, instead of just being the useless piece of shit—"

"Roxas!" Sora snapped, grabbing his Nobody's arms and looking into his blue eyes, identical to his own. "Listen to me! Riku's hurt, and what you're saying isn't going to help him! If anything, it'll just make it worse! None of this was your fault. It was his own choice to do what he did, and that was to protect all of us! He did it for us, so you saying that it was your fault will make his efforts seem useless…all right?" Sora had no idea what he had said, but Roxas had nodded and scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, so he didn't really care, as long as the Nobody just calmed down.

They both sat back, staring at nothing in particular as they waited for Cloud and Tifa to come back and tell them how he was, for better or for worse. Sora just stared into space, and Roxas squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control himself.

'Come on, Riku…' he thought. 'Pull through this, I know you can…please, Riku, be okay…'

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Tifa looked at Cloud, sadness echoing in both voice and expression. She looked down at the silverhair lying on the bed, white sheets now stained with his blood. The black-clad woman sighed, shaking her head.

"Oh, man…" she said. "How are we going to tell him?"

Cloud looked at her blankly. "What do you mean? It's not that bad…" Tifa hit him, and he rubbed his arm ruefully. "What?" he protested. "It's not."

Tifa shook her head again, this time in exasperation. "You just don't get it sometimes, Cloud…" she said sadly, standing up and walking out. The blonde smiled faintly. There was no way that she wanted to tell Roxas, but there was even less chance of letting him tell the werewolf. She could be blunt, but she was blunt and nice about it. He was just cruelly to the point and uncaring. He'd probably just tell the kid right off and leave without another word.

Still, he looked at Riku, shaking his head sadly. "Geez, kid," he muttered, standing and walking after Tifa. "You really know how to get yourself screwed over, don't you…"

Not getting an answer, not that he actually expected one anyways, he followed the woman into the room where Sora and Roxas were waiting for them.

As soon as he heard the door open, Roxas leaped to his feet, saying quickly, desperately, "How is he? Is Riku all right? I—" His voice was cut off as Tifa looked at him.

"I don't really know," she said quietly. "I'm sorry, Roxas, we did the best we could, but he's really hurt. I don't know…" she stopped, clenching her hands tightly into fists, and Cloud lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. She steadied herself, and finished her speech. "I don't know…if he'll be able to pull through this. He could still die."

Roxas collapsed into a chair, burying his head into his hands, shoulders wracked with silent sobs. Sora watched him, not really knowing what to do. Tifa, on the other hand, sat next to him, rubbing his back, feeling his thin body shake.

"It's all right," she said quietly. "We'll find whoever did this, and—"

Roxas leaped up, running out of the airship quickly, tears streaming from his eyes. They watched him go, and now none of them knew what to say. That is, until a silky voice broke in on their thoughts.

"He could live," Yazoo said, looking at them with the one good eye that he had. The other had a slash going straight through it, blood streaming from it stubbornly, and was shut firmly. He laughed, voice harsh. "He could live," he continued, "but I doubt it."

"Shut up," Cloud snapped, taking a menacing step towards the silverhair. "No one wants to hear you."

Yazoo snickered, wincing in pain, but didn't say anything else. Cloud waited a moment, just to wait for Yazoo to say something so he could have an excuse to hurt him, before stalking through the door, following Roxas outside. Sora, Tifa, and Yazoo watched him go, all three wondering where he was going.

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Roxas sat on the edge of the beach, staring out over the water. 'No more fur for another month…' he thought to himself, staring at his pale hands. 'I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing…'

It was that kind of mindless banter inside his own head that kept him from thinking about everything else, but it only lasted so long. Too soon, thoughts of the silverhair, broken and almost dead, and tears sprang up in his eyes. Brushing them away angrily, he kicked the sand, sending a fine spray into the waves.

"You know," a voice said behind him, making him turn. "I had to go through nearly the same thing as you twice, but with two major differences. Both times, I learned that they were already dead and with no chance of recovery, and my reaction was different." Cloud approached the Nobody, staring at him with no emotion in his blue eyes. "I actually started destroying things."

"That happens after I learn that he's dead," Roxas snapped.

Immediately, Cloud's eyes narrowed, the blue becoming steely and furious. "So that's it, then?" he asked, voice dangerous. "There's no hope, is there. You're just going to sit back and wait until someone tells you that he's dead."

Roxas flinched back. "Well…no. But what else—"

"Hope."

That stopped Roxas' words immediately. After a few seconds of silence, during which the two blondes simply stared at each other, until Roxas finally said slowly, "What?"

"Hope," Cloud repeated, turning away. "It's the least you can do. The people that I loved died, and I lost hope, and everything just went downhill. Don't let that happen to you. Don't make the same mistake that I have time and time again." He walked away, and Roxas had the feeling that Cloud was going through the same thing that he had so long ago all over again.

"No hope, huh…?" he murmured, looking out again, to the azure horizon that beckoned to the curious.

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A.N. 'Allo. I really am sorry about the, you know, giant gap. And the short chapter, too. It's a very short, overly emo chapter. And I _still _don't know if Riku's going to die yet. Help?

PS. My friends are all calling me Potstickers now, all because we went to a sushi restaurant and I started a fight over the potstickers. I can't remember if I won or lost that fight…oh, well. I still love you all.

Thanks to the three who reviewed my last chapter, I LOVE YOU! Sera, phaz, and princessOFdarkness are officially part of the Coolest Reviewers Club. Bwahahahaa, may the rest of you feel unloved. Review. Then I'll love you.

Chris/Potstickers. That's me!


	11. Chapter 11

A.N. Hey, it's Chris/Potstickers. My life is collapsing, and yet I still find time to write. I love you all. And I'm sorry that the chapters are getting more and more boring, but I can't just keep skipping whole months like last time. Don't worry, you'll see some more of the fighting crap that I write…I'm just not sure when. Maybe next chapter? Chapter after that? I dunno.

Oh, and I need to know if Riku should die or not. I haven't been able to decide. Help?

Chris

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Cloud's snarl of frustration echoed around the ship, followed by a loud thud. He glared at the two silverhaired men in front of him, and they looked back coolly, completely unruffled by the outburst and the sword buried in the floor in front of them.

"For the last time," Cloud snapped through gritted teeth. "Where the hell is Sephiroth?"

"For the last time," Yazoo replied with infuriating patience, "We don't know."

"Bullshit!"

Loz snorted, and Yazoo smiled evenly. "Is it? Well, I guess there's no way to tell. Shame," he sighed with mock pity. Another loud thud ensued, and Loz growled, pulling against his restraints.

"It's all right, brother," Yazoo said, calming the larger man. The look in his blue-green eyes hid any resentment that lay inside, but wasn't enough to hide the quickly darkening bruise on his cheek, delivered by a heavy black boot. He met the blonde's gaze squarely, smirking. "He'll never know. Just as we'll never know."

"Will you cut the shit?" Cloud snarled. "Of course you—"

"Have no idea where he is," Yazoo interrupted smoothly. "You really think that he tells us where he is? You think we'll follow him, or just automatically know where he is?"

"You know where he is," Cloud said dangerously. "He'd tell you."

Yazoo tilted his head, allowing his long silver hair to cover half of his face, his one visible eye sparkling with unchecked amusement. "Then you're not as smart as he gave you credit for."

Cloud resisted the urge to pound the insolent smirk off of Yazoo's face, turning on his heel and storming out. Yazoo's grin widened, and Loz smiled.

"He can't even tell that we're telling the truth," the larger man said, and Yazoo nodded, cerulean eyes bright. "Ah, well," he laughed softly. "If he chooses to believe that we know where Sephiroth is, then that's his choice. He wouldn't get anything out of us even if we knew."

Cloud, listening at the door just in case, clenched his teeth in fury and walked stiffly away.

"Idiot," Yazoo murmured, and Loz chucked.

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Sora heard a clunk, and looked over to see Roxas in the doorway of his house, slouching against the frame nonchalantly, looking at him with the identical blue eyes.

"Roxas!" Sora exclaimed, hurrying to the Nobody's side, pulling him into the house. "How are you? Doing all right?"

The blonde smiled at him, still sad, but still undoubtedly a smile. "Not great…but definitely doing better," he admitted. "Thanks. You all right?"

Sora sighed, plopping down on the couch. "Could be a hell of a lot better, but I'm doing my best not to think about it."

Roxas smiled at his Other. "That's all I think of now."

The brunette looked at him. "Really? I thought…well, thinking about it makes me all moody and mopey, and I hate being like that. Guess you're different."

Roxas shrugged. "Well, I talked to Cloud, and it really…well, helped to put things into perspective."

Sora stared. "You mean…" he said slowly, trying to comprehend the impossible. "You mean to tell me that…Cloud actually cheered you up?"

Roxas stuck his hands into his pockets, shrugging. "Well, yeah."

The brunette suddenly burst out laughing, making Roxas jump a bit. "W-wow!" Sora chuckled, wiping tears away from his eyes. "Cloud actually…made someone feel better? Geez, this should go under one of the great accomplishments of the 21st century! Or Ripley's Believe it Or Not kind of thing!"

Roxas smiled. "Yeah. It was really weird, but he really made me think about it, y'know?"

"That's really weird," Sora grinned. "I don't think I'll ever let him live this down. Anyway, Roxas, what're you doing here?"

The blonde shrugged. "I dunno. I just followed my feet and they took me here. Sorry if I'm intruding or something."

"No, it's no problem at all!" Sora reassured. In all truth, he was glad for the company. When he was alone, he could hear the echoes of the silverhair, resonating from the walls where they had been stored for years—the laughter, the tears, the confessions, and their whole life played out in Sora's head, but he wanted nothing more than to get rid of the incessant noises that plagued him. "I'm actually really glad you're here."

Roxas smiled softly. "I'm really glad you feel that way."

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Dark shapes pursued him through the darkness, endless and relentless. He ran, but, like all dreams where you are being chased, he couldn't lose them. Their gleaming eyes, almost the same color as his own, never changed in size, whether they grew closer or further away. They were just there.

He ran, his silver hair streaming behind him, blowing in his eyes. Impatiently, he brushed it away, trying to dodge through the forest where all the trees glowed with an unearthly light that seemed to blind him still further. He ran into several of them as they suddenly materialized in front of him, one moment not there, the next moment it bashed into his shoulder as he tried to dodge around it.

Something snapped at his ankle, jaws closing on his leg, but he lashed out, slamming it in the face. With a whimper, it released him, joining the others in their relentless pursuit.

The breath came ragged in his throat, burning its way down into his lungs mercilessly as he kept running. Now, the eyes were inevitably drawing closer, and now he could see the sharp ivory teeth, gnashing and determined to see him torn to shreds.

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Tifa watched in concern as Riku tossed and turned. She wanted to hold him down somehow so that he wouldn't aggravate his wounds, but she was afraid that anything that she did would just make it worse.

She lay a cool cloth on his sweaty forehead, biting her lip in concern. His condition was getting no better. It wasn't getting any worse simply because it couldn't get any worse without killing him. His jaw cracked loudly as he clenched his teeth hard, hands gripping and releasing the sheets over and over again, his already pale skin turned deathly white.

Tears sprang into the brown-haired woman's eyes as she watched the silverhair writhing in agony.

"Come on, Riku…" she said, trying to keep the tears from escaping from her eyes. She failed, however, and they traced their way down her face. "Come on!" she cried, slamming her fist into the wall. "You can't die! You have to get better!"

Scrubbing at her eyes, she hurried from the room, right into something worse.

"Aww…" Yazoo cooed. "Has little Riku finally given up on his pathetic excuse for a life? Finally kicked the bucket?"

"Shut up!" Tifa yelled, giving him a vicious slap. Yazoo just laughed, while Loz shifted uncomfortably, wanting to defend his brother.

"For your information," she hissed, "Riku is doing fine."

"Meaning he's not dead yet."

The breath was knocked out of him as a black boot slammed into his stomach, and he coughed, choking, blood spurting from his wounds. Loz whined, trying to squirm around between the two.

"No," Tifa snarled. "I mean his condition is improving and he's going to make a full recovery."

He smirked, even though his breath was slightly wheezy and his eyes were half-closed in pain. "Cloud told me earlier to quit the bullshit. Why don't you take his advice and actually tell the truth for once. Riku's not getting better. He may not be dead, but that's not going to last long."

Tifa snapped, launching herself at him, and she only stopped after Cloud, hearing the racket and coming back (waiting a few minutes until deciding that the silverhair would die if she kept it up), dragged her off. Yazoo was out, blood flowing from his old wounds that had been reopened by the abuse, cerulean eyes, not even fully closed, clouded over until they were a silvery-grey.

Loz growled at them furiously, snapping, "You're real brave, beating someone up when they're tied up like this."

Cloud took the opportunity to snap, "If you guys were untied, then you'd probably be cocky enough to brag that you could beat us when you were tied up, so shut it, crybaby."

The door slammed, leaving the two alone. Tears sprang up in Loz's eyes, even as he tried to fight them back.

"Don't…listen to them, Loz," Yazoo rasped, raising his head, eyes still dulled with pain and blood loss. "They're all going to die anyways."

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A.N. Hey, it's Chris. I'm glad that I was able to post this chapter sooner than all of the other ones. There's been a lot of crazy shit going on in my life, so its basically crumbled around my ears. Ah, well.

Review…uh, please. Thanks yous a lots.

! OMGsquee it's POTSTICKERS!!!


	12. Chapter 12

A.N. Oh me, oh my…how long must these intervals grow before…um…you stop reading my stories? I cannot let that happen! Fie, fie, shame upon me and my family (who're the ones keeping away from the goddamn computer!)

Anyway, things'll start acting up pretty soon, just be patient, please. I know it's hard, but if I can do it, you can do it!

Love, Chris

Je t'aime!

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"You know, I thought that you would hate me," Roxas said, sitting next to Sora on the couch, his arms folded behind his head as he lay back, his bright blue eyes studying the ceiling with intense scrutiny. "You know…for the whole…love thing."

Sora sighed, flopping back, a slight pout forming on his lips. "You know, the thing is…" he admitted. "I kind of did. I thought that you had just come to take him from me, and I hated you for it. But…" he trailed off, and Roxas looked at him sideways.

"But what?"

"I…started thinking, and finally decided that it was his choice. My hating you would just pull our friendship apart, and I didn't want to risk that. I couldn't lose him as a friend." He sighed, covering his face with hands that were ever so slightly shaky. "Which is why I guess I'm taking this so hard. 'Cuz I might lose him."

The Nobody nodded. "I know exactly what you mean."

"I guess for you it's even worse."

"Why's that?"

"You have more to lose from him than I do."

Roxas shivered. "You really think so? I don't. You're the one that he's known all of his life. In truth, I think that you're the reason that he's not dead yet. When he was lost in the darkness, you were the one that pulled him through. I don't think that he'll ever forget that."

They sat in silence for a long time, reflecting.

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"Look, asshole," Cloud said through gritted teeth, trying to hold back his temper, "Just tell us what it is that he's after."

Loz shook his head, glaring. Yazoo smiled, retaining his own cold silence, and the smug expression on their faces nearly caused the blonde to completely lose it. Tifa lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to calm down.

"Hypocrite," Cloud muttered, and she smiled. "You're the one who nearly killed him not even two hours ago."

"True," she said, "But they were the ones who started that conversation. You're the one that keeps insisting on talking to them."

"I'm not talking, I'm interrogating."

"You might as well be talking, for the answers that you've been getting."

"She's got a point," Leon said, watching them bicker. "I don't think that you're going to get anything from them."

"Nope," Loz said cheerfully, making everyone glare at him.

"Just give up," Leon advised. "We can just try and find them on our own."

Cloud huffed, put off by the way that everyone was ganging up on him. "Yeah, but if there's an easier way to find them, then I want to find it."

"Don't try and take the path of least resistance, Cloud," Tifa teased. "It doesn't build character."

Leon smiled. "He's got character. Emo and moody."

"Shut up!"

Yazoo rolled his eyes as they walked out, sill arguing. "Seems like they're enjoying themselves," he grumbled, and Loz snorted. "Not for long," the larger man said. "Brother's coming, isn't he?"

"Yes, Loz," Yazoo reassured. "He's coming."

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He looked back for a second, and saw teeth racing towards him. He ducked, and the black shadow flashed over his head, almost going straight into a tree headfirst, and he raced past it without a second thought. It whirled, pursuing him, not even pausing, driving itself towards him madly.

His breath rasped painfully in his throat, his legs aching painfully, a cramp nearly splitting his side in two. He knew that it was only a matter of time until they would be able to catch up to him.

And there it came. He stumbled, and they fell on him, and he could feel their teeth sinking into his flesh, and he screamed, covering his face with his arms, feeling the skin being torn off, his entire body ripped to shreds. He opened his mouth, only to find it filled with blood.

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Tifa ran into Riku's room, past the two men who were just watching and laughing as the silverhair's scream echoed off the walls. Yuffie, who was in there bugging Leon, jumped up, watching Riku's writhing form in horror.

"What happened?" Tifa asked the girl, and she just shook her head, wide-eyed.

"I have no idea!" she said, "One minute he was fine, the next he's screaming bloody murder!"

"Shit," the black-clad woman muttered, trying to hold the boy down as the white bandages suddenly darkened, red flowers on a clean white field. "If he keeps this up, he'll bleed to death."

Yuffie scrambled to help, not really sure what to do. Tentatively, she held his arm, trying to keep it from moving, only to have it ripped out of her grasp as he flailed it. She hadn't expected him to be that strong. Glaring at him, she grabbed it, this time not letting go.

Tifa nodded at her in gratitude, trying to get a hold on the other one. Neither had any idea of what to do after that, but it was something they could figure out later.

Suddenly, a fist hit down, smashing into the side of Riku's head. The silverhair froze, and then collapsed, not moving. Both of the women turned to glare at Leon, who just blinked at them in confusion.

"What?" he said innocently. "He stopped, didn't he?"

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Roxas was jerked awake suddenly as Sora slipped off of the couch with a thud, the noise pulling him from his slumber, along with the fact that his head had been lying on Sora's shoulder, and he fell full-length on the couch. He rubbed his eyes, looking down at the still-sleeping brunette in amazement.

"How can you still be asleep?" he asked drowsily, rubbing his eyes. Sora just snuffled and tumbled under the couch as he rolled over, grumbling in his sleep. Roxas looked around, everything taking a few seconds to come into focus.

"Shit…" he muttered, realizing that he'd been asleep for several hours. They had been talking about everything that had happened to them, everything that could happen, everything that had happened to Riku…the blonde couldn't remember at what point he had fallen asleep, but he remembered (vaguely) drifting off feeling a lot better.

Nudging Sora with his foot, he said, louder, "Hey! Sora!"

"Mm?"

"We should go! It's getting late!"

"Whatddime izzit?"

"Four!"

Sora sat up, not opening his eyes. "An..?"

"We need to go see Riku!"

The brunette's eyes snapped open, and he bounded up, chirruping, "All right! Let's go see him, then!"

Obviously, he was feeling better for having talked to Roxas as well, as he pranced out the door, leaving the blonde to follow and marvel at how he could be half-comatose one moment, and ultra-hyper the next.

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Cloud walked into the room, seething at the aloof act that the brothers had been sporting the whole time, looking at the four occupants in sudden confusion.

"Um…" he said slowly, looking from face to face. "What…happened?"

Yuffie shot him a look that clearly said, 'Don't ask,' and Tifa growled out, "Leon here thought it would be funny to go and punch a certain someone who is already close enough to death."

"I didn't think that it would be funny!" Leon protested, now sporting a terrific black eye (courtesy of the great ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi). "He was thrashing around, and you kept squealing about stopping him…"

"So you _punched _him?" Cloud said incredulously.

"Well, it _worked, _didn't it?"

"That's not the point!" Yuffie interrupted, raising her fist again, and Leon gave an involuntary flinch. Cloud chuckled, turning around, planning to go back out until they heard a yelp and a thud.

Tifa and Cloud both glanced at each other, and walked into the adjoining room (reluctantly leaving a scuffle between Leon and Yuffie) to see Sora picking himself up, glaring at Loz.

"He tripped me!" the brunette said indignantly, and Loz tried to look innocent, but his stern facial muscles couldn't quite pull it off. Yazoo, on the other hand, looked up at Cloud with wide eyes.

"Loz didn't do anything, big brother," he said sweetly. "Don't send him to his room, please!"

"Shut the hell up," Cloud snapped, as Roxas tried to stifle a giggle. 'These two sure know just how to piss him off,' he thought with a grin. The blonde noticed, glaring at the two boys.

"Aren't you here to see Riku?" he grumbled irritably.

"What's left of him—" Yazoo mumbled before a kick interrupted him as Cloud finished. "Well then, go!"

Not really wanting to argue with him when he was being moody, Roxas and Sora hurried into the room where Riku was staying, only to pause in the doorway to watch the ninja beating Leon with a pillow mercilessly.

"Go! A! Way!" She snapped, berating him as he backed away, trying to grab it from her. She noticed the two, dropping the weapon and kicking it under the bed quickly. "Oh, hi guys!" she said, and Roxas looked at her nervously.

"What's going on..?" he asked, trying again not to laugh.

Yuffie glared at the Gunblader, snorting. "Nothing," she said, punching him on the arm. He rolled his eyes, rubbing the now-dead arm ruefully.

"That's right," he agreed dryly, "Absolutely nothing's happening," making Yuffie punch him again. Protesting, he tried to fend her off, backing out of the room as she followed him, continuing to punch him as he escaped.

"Well, that was…interesting," Roxas said, confused. Sora shook his head in exasperation and nodded in agreement at the same time.

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A.N. Hey, another chapter. The whole thing with Sora and Roxas was just filler, so if ya don't like it, ignore it. It has really no purpose but to make time pass faster for all of us. So, I'll see ya all next chapter, when things (might) start picking up!


	13. Chapter 13

Leon and Cloud made their way trhough the forest, looking for any indication of Kadaj or Sephiroth. However, the blonde had other things on his mind as well, and he kept glancinf nervously at the brunette.

"You all right?" he asked, thinking, 'He really shouldn't be out here...those wounds he got from Yazoo haven't healed yet...'

"For the ninth time," Leon grumbled. I'm _fine."_

Cloud just shook his head, grunting in disbelief, as Leon reprimanded him. "Anyway, Cloud, you shouldn't be worrying about me. Just focus on finding those two."

Although he didn't know it, Leon was right, as cerulean eyes, peering down at them through the foliage, narrowed in distaste. Then the figure slipped off, slight frame slipping silently through the shadows, catlike eyes glowing in anticipation.

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Inside the airship, the afternoon sun made the horizon dance happily, and the occupants of the vehicle could feel the heat sinking into them, making them hot and drowsy. Tifa yawned, leaning back and blinking tiredly. Her eyelids sank, finally slipping closed...only to be awakened with a jerk as she heard Sora yell. Leaping up from where she had been sitting in the doorway of the airship, she ran in. the sight she saw made her blood run cold.

Roxas was gasping for breath, with Yazoo's hand holding him against the wall by his throat. The blone's hands were scrablling weakly, helplessly, against the silverhair's pale arms. Sora struggled to break the hold that Loz held on him, fighting and squirming to help. And steel glinted over Riku's exposed throat, the double katana held over the unconscious boy as Kadaj's cerulean eyes, filled with amusement, stared at her.

"Make one wrong move," he said silkily, "and the brat loses his head." Already, a thin line of blood trickled from the ivory skin as Shouba pressed down lightly.

"What do you want?" Tifa asked nervously, her eyes flickering from person to person. Kadaj just laughed. "I wanted my brothers. You stole them from me, and I wanted them back." At his words, a slight smile played over Yazoo's features, and Loz grinned.

"Well, you have them back, now."

"Of course. But Sephiroth gave me instructions. Now, it's not what I want. It's what _he _wants."

Tifa knew that he wanted her to ask, and she knew that she shouldn't ask. But the words slipped out before she could stop them.

"What...he wants?"

Kadaj winked, turning what was normally a friendly gesture into something menacing and terrifying. "He wants to...let's say...do away with the dogs."

Tifa's eyes narrowed, her muscles tensing. "By 'dogs,' you mean..."

"Yes. These two," Kadaj confirmed, eyes glinting maniacally, geasturing at Roxas and Riku. "The dogs that obey the humans, that run with them and live with them. they're traitors to their own kind...their own blood." Shouba pressed down again, the trickle becoming a stream, staining the pale skin and white sheets.

"Shit," Tifa eyes narrowed, before saying. "Well, what about you?"

Kadaj glared. "What about us? We follow the directions of another one of us, there's no shame in that."

"Since when have they followed our directions?" Tifa asked desperately, brain racing to try and figure out how she could prevent the silverhair from losing his head.

"Since they galloped through the forest looking for us," Kadaj snarled. "Trying to find us over the death of that useless b-"

"Shut up!" Sora growled. "Shut up, she was our-" his voice was cut off as his arm was yanked behind his back and he cried out. Tifa started forward, but a warning growl from Loz made her stop, even as her body screamed for her to spring into action.

"That's right," Kadaj purred. "Take one more step and your, ah...friend will pay. And don't take that threat lightly. We're dead serious."

"I know," Tifa said helplessly, "But please, don't hurt them."

Kadaj shrugged. "Ahh, don't worry. I won't hurt them." He lifed Shouba in the air, grinning. "I'll just kill them!" The blade whistled down, even as Tifa launched herself at him, knowing that she wasn't going to make it...but something whistled by her head, too fast to see clearly, clanging against the double katana, knocking the weapon aside. Not bothering to see who it was, Tifa spun, her foot aiming towards Kadaj's face. He dodged it easily, and she stood between him and Riku, glaring.

Yuffie appeared on the other side of the room, yanking out her shuriken from where it had buried itself in the wall.

"Hey, guys!" she grinned, and even as she spoke, the shuriken left her hand again, streaking towards Yazoo, aiming for the slender, sinewy arm. With a hiss of distaste, he pulled back, but his other hand flickered, snapping the shuriken to a halt, holding it steady in the air. Roxas slid to his knees, coughing and gasping as air was allowed back into his body.

Yuffie eyed the man holding her weapon. "Can you even use that?" she asked doubtfully. Yazoo glowered.

"You underestimate us," he spat. With barely a twitch he sent it back, and it came with such speed and power that the ninja was forced to dodged it, and it buried itself in the wall, the entire length of one to the points. Recovering enough from the shock to the move, Yuffie tugged on it, but it stayed where it was.

"Ah, shit," she grumbled, turning to face them again. Kadaj laughed coldly."Well, this certainly is an interesting situation, isn't it?" And it was. Yazoo stood over Roxas, and Loz still held Sora, while Tifa and Yuffie stood between Riku and the rest of the room.

"How the hell do we get out of this one?" Tifa thought desperately.

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"I want to do something, dammit!" he growled, gold eyes flashing dangerously.

"Patience, patience," Sephiroth assured him, but he wasn't going to be patient.

Turning to the silverhaired man, he snarled, "You forget who made you who you are."

With a flash, the swordpoint was pressed against his neck. "You forget," Sephiroth purred, "Who the better fighter is."

Yay, I'm done typing this up!! And it's me again, for those who saw me in Chris's other story. If not, whatev. I'm Chris's friend who has been assigned to type up his (he told me that it's fine to put up his gender, so sorry about that) stories while he's grounded. Yes, still grounded. Jeez, Chris is such a bad influence on me!! D: Anyways, even though I'm _suppose_ to be updating as much as I can, I've had a TON of homework and haven't even have a lot of time for myself. Also, Chris started to bug me a lot to update, and when I realized that the last story that was updated was the one I typed...well...I felt bad. XD So I'll be typing up as much as I can this weekend. Just keep in mind that I'M the one who is causing Chris's stories to be slowly updated, not him. :3

REVIEW PLEASE AND THANK YOU.


	14. Chapter 14

Alright, alright, I finally updated. No more begging, peeps, I'm typing I'm typing. XD -slaps self- I'm such a procrastinator.

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"We'll make you a trade," Kadaj offered, blue-green eyes flashing. "Either we kill you all right here and right now, or we get the dog for the Keyblade master."

Immediately, Sora threw himself forward, yelling desperately at the black-clad woman. "NO! You can't do it, Tifa, don't –" Loz's hand covered the brunette's mouth, shutting off the shout. But Sora wasn't finished. Lurching forward, he sank his teeth into Loz's hand. The big man yelped, drawing back reflexively.

"You can't Tifa!" he insisted. Kadaj snickered. "Why not? He's already half-dead."

Sora opened his mouth to argue, but Loz punched him in the stomach, sending him to the floor; gasping for breath. Kadaj quirked an eyebrow, looking at the black-clad woman. "Well?"

Tifa opened her mouth, but a hoarse, pained voice spoke before she could say anything.

"Of course." Riku said, struggling to sit up. "of course you'll make the trade. You're not stupid."

Sora gasped for breath; rasping, "No! Riku, don't, you can't –" Loz kicked him, cutting off his words. Riku laughed softly, pain lancing through his body. "Don't be stupid Sora, you know he's right." He walked past Tifa slowly, fighting to keep himself upright. "I…might die at any second…and yet you want to sacrifice yourself for me." He stood over Sora, smiling, even as blood stained the white bandages, trickling from his mouth. "Thank you."

Sora leaped up resisting the urge to shake the silver-hair. "But I can't let you do this Riku! They're going to _kill_ you!"

Riku struggled upright, shaking his head. "So? I don't care." He put a weak hand on Sora's shoulder. "You don't need me, Sora. You never have."

Roxas struggled upright, one hand around his constricted throat. "And me?" he asked wheezing. "What about me?"

Riku smiled sadly. "Roxas…I'm sorry."

Kadaj laughed, "Don't worry. He's coming too." Yazoo grabbed Roxas, pulling him out the door, followed closely by Loz. Kadaj, disregarding the anguished cry of pain from the silver-hair turned Riku around, placing Shouba's edges against the blood streaked throat.

"Follow us and I'll make his death slow and unbelievably painful," he said, smiling, as he dragged the boy out of the room, while Tifa and Yuffie stared after them helplessly.

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The two boys were dragged out of the ship, over the white sand, headed for the forest. Roxas was dragged between Loz and Yazoo, while Kadaj half-carried, half-dragged Riku.

"Don't worry," Kadaj purred. "Now that you're awake, those wounds will heal fast enough."

"What's the point?" Riku hissed between clenched teeth. "You're just going to kill me anyways."

Kadaj just shrugged. "Maybe."

"Ma – ouch – maybe?"

"We'll just have to see what Sephiroth has to say about it."

Riku thought about saying something else, but he was already tossing far too much blood, and he didn't really want to die all that much, no matter what he'd told Sora.

They entered the forest, and Roxas felt the sense of hopelessness overcome him, becoming stronger and stronger the deeper they went.

"We're going to die…" he thought, a second before a black blur sprang at them from above. Riku crashed to the ground as the first Tsuragi clanged against Shouba as Cloud let out his fury, and Kadaj was forced to back off under the onslaught.

Loz made a move to help, leaving Roxas with Yazoo, but a bullet bit into his shoulder by Oblivion, and Roxas surged up, fighting mad. Yazoo skipped back, feeling one of the ivory tips of Oathkeeper carve its way across his cheek. Loz made a move towards the Nobody's unprotected back, but someone landed on him, smashing him into the ground. Leon stepped off of the broad back a second before Loz surged upwards, leaping to his feet.

Kadaj sized up the odds, hissing through his teeth. "Not good…" he thought, leaping away from Cloud's attacks. Right now, he had no desire to fight these three, especially in their condition…he knew, even though they were hurting, both Yazoo and Loz were still fighting, but he had no idea how long they could keep it up, Yazoo especially.

Hissing again in distaste, he made an instantaneous decision. Avoiding Cloud's attack, he slipped past the blonde's guard. Grabbing Riku around the waist, he whipped the handle of the double katana viciously down on the back of his head, calling out to the other two, "Go! Now!"

Not arguing, Loz and Yazoo disappeared almost instantly, their swift forms devoured by the forest's ravenous shadows. Kadaj followed, along with the three chasing them, Cloud in the lead, fury emanating from him in waves.

Kadaj, burdened by Riku's dead weight, heard the blonde behind him pursuing him. Biting down on his lip, the silver-haired man sped up, but his follower wasn't giving up that easy. He was sure that the blonde was going to overtake him when he ran past a tree whose boughs hung low, barely two feet over his head. Yazoo was perched on one of them, urging Kadaj on as his brother ran past, then neatly falling back, still holding the bough. His black-clad form was virtually invisible against the dark trees, despite it being the middle of the afternoon. What gave him away was his pale skin and long silver hair, which Cloud's blue eyes focused on almost immediately.

Soon after, he regretted it, as Yazoo's foot caught him right in the face, sending him crashing backwards into Leon, who'd been right behind him. They fell in a heap as Roxas, slightly behind, leaped over them, tackling the longhaired brother as his feet touched the ground.

Roxas pinned Yazoo down, raising Oblivion to strike. But as he tried to bring it down again, he found it to be immobilized. He looked up into the grinning face of Loz, hanging upside down from a branch, his fist closed over the dark Keyblade's shaft, rendering it useless.

Yazoo allowed himself a cold chuckle as he brought his fists, clenched together tightly, into Roxas's open stomach, leaving the Nobody gasping for breath as Loz hauled him off using Oblivion.

The three pursuers scrambled to their feet in unison, but the four silver-hairs had disappeared completely, leaving the trio staring at the gloomy trees, the silence ringing in their ears.

123123

Riku was jerked awake as he was thrown roughly to the ground. He groaned, deciding that it would be in his best interest not to get up, that it would be safer to stay down. At least for now.

He froze as footsteps approached him, slow and menacing. They stopped right in front of him, and he raised his blue-green eyes. Sephiroth smiled at him, sending chills down his spine, and his breath caught in his throat.

123123123123

Well there you go!! I finally typed up a chapter. Yay:D

Okay, I have…5 chapters I think…to type up. Chris is really getting mad at me. XD But seriously…homework, drama class, school, videogames, reading, I'm booked!!

Anywho, I don't know much about this story, but there's no boyxboy stuff from what I've read, so I am no pleased. Bad Chris.

Oh yeah! The last time I typed one of these up I accidently called Chris 'Christ'. No people, Chris may write good yaoi smut, but he is no Lord Jesus Our Savior.

Okay, review please! It inspires me to actually type:D


	15. Chapter 15

Alas!! I have decided to type again! (Chris bugged me. Oh poo:3) I'm very hungry. O.o

Onward to victory!!

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"Dammit!" Roxas snarled, slamming Oathkeeper into a tree. Cloud watched him, wishing that he could do the same but at the same time knowing that he needed to keep a level head right now.

"Roxas…" Leon said gentle, trying to calm the enraged blonde, but the Nobody wasn't going to listen. "Dammit!" he repeated, jerking out the white Keyblade and slamming it back. "If I'd just been a little faster…if I'd ignored him and gone after Riku, I might have…shit!"

but what he was saying was also running through their minds, each berating himself on what he could have or should have done instead. What he could have done to save Riku's life…

Leon shook his head. Thoughts like that were not going to help, dammit!

"Look" he said, "right now we need to get _everyone_ in on this. We need all the people we can get on this. We have no idea what we'd be walking into if we chased them just like that."

Roxas whirled, furious.

"They could be killing him right now, you bastard!" he yelled, shoving Leon's hands away from him. "They could be _killing _him, and you're just going to run away with you tail between your legs! You just want to save your sorry ass, while he…" his voice cracked, and he trailed off, biting his lip.

"I…sorry," he said after a while, closing the bright blue eyes that were slowly brimming with tears. "I didn't mean that…I – I just…"

"I know," Leon said, as gently as he could.

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Sora half-sobbed, half-roared in anger, slamming a fist into the side of the ship furiously. "Shitshitshit!" he snarled, as blood trickled down the wall.

Tifa nodded, her head in her hands and her voice cracked up. "They're long gone by now."

"And we can't follow them, anyways," Yuffie put in sadly. "They outrank us."

Sora glared at her furiously, and the ninja shrank under his glare. "We don't know that!" he yelled. "We don't know that he's better until we fight him, and now we cant!"

"I know but –"

"Would you –"

"Jeez, everyone can we just calm down for a second?" Leon snapped, stepping through the door. Everyone's gazes shot in his direction he was immediately hit with questions, information, and it all came out in a jumble of words that he stopped with two hands held up in front of him as in self-defense.

"Whoa, would you just hold on for a second?" he tried, but all the jargon ground to a screeching half as Roxas entered the room.

"I'm sorry," he said before anyone could say anything. "I…he…"

"Riku's gone," Cloud interrupted almost helpfully, shoving Roxas through the doorway entirely so that he could get in. "Not dead, but they got him."

"B-but how…?" Tifa stammered, letting the partial question hang on the air unfinished.

"We saw them when we were searching," Leon put in, and started telling the story.

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"Well, well, well," the person standing in front of him said amusedly. "Look who's back in the lion's den."

Riku cast his gaze upward, and Sephiroth smiled down at him. The silver hair was petrified by the cats-eye gaze, until another figure stepped up beside him.

"The last time that I saw you," the man said coldly, "you had allowed yourself to be swallowed by darkness. I see you've gotten over that."

Suddenly Riku could breathe again, and he gasped, scrambling backwards. The Nobody's golden gaze burned into him. "S-Saïx?" Riku said in disbelief. "I-I though that…"

"I was dead?" he said icily. "No, not quite. And I don't plan on it for quite some time."

"But we thought that Sora had…"

Saïx should his head, anger flaring up in his ochire gaze.

"A human? Kill me? There's no chance," he snapped. He was about to say more, but a cool voice interrupted him.

"Calm down already, number VI," he said, his one visible eye staring at the Luna Divider. Riku spun. "Zexion?"

"Yes," the Cloaked Schemer said simply. "Your replica did a very had job of trying to kill me. He didn't even come close. Even Axel knew that I was still alive."

"Damn right," the redhead snickered, and Riku's head whipped around. Axel was leaning against a tree, grinning at him. His bright green eyes twinkled happily.

"Jesus, they just keep coming." Riku thought crazily. "I didn't even hear them."

"I saved many of the Organization through the method of making them werewolves," Saïx snapped. As if in answer, or perhaps to give proof, three others dropped from the tree next to the blue-haired Nobody. Only one of them had Riku ever seen in person – Marluxia, the keeper of Castle Oblivion. The other two he'd learned about from DiZ – Xigbar and Demyx, both of whom had supposedly died by Sora's hand. Neither was looking particularly dead right now.

Somehow, Riku managed to smile. "Gang's all here, huh?" he said weakly, earning him a cold chuck from the assembled werewolves, who all looked ready to tear him apart, with the exception of Axel, who was watching him sadly.

"So…what…what are you going to do to me?" Riku asked, looking back at Sephiroth, who seemed to be the leader of the rabble. "Kill me?"

The one-winged angel looked at him thoughtfully, leaning over him. Tilting the silver hair's head up by his chin, he looked pensively into the determined cerulean gaze. "You're not afraid," he said, without a hint of a question in his voice. Just the utmost certainty.

Riku shrugged, ignoring the pain that it brought him. "No…not really," he said, meaning it. "I don't really _want_ to die…at least, not yet…but I don't fear death."

Sephiroth continued staring at him for a few more seconds before finally, without another word, turning away and walking into the darkness. He paused for a second by Saïx, muttering something that Riku didn't hear and Saïx obviously didn't like by the look on his face, before disappearing.

The Nobodies turned to him, and Riku shrank back. Whatever was coming, he guessed he wouldn't enjoy it.

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"If I had just put more effort into chasing down those sons of bitches…" Leon muttered, his head in his hands.

"I should've talked Riku out of going," Sora moaned, eyes brimming with a film of tears.

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep and let him inside," Tifa grieved, biting her lip.

"I should've ignored the other two and gone after the one with Riku," Roxas said, voice muffled as his head was buried on his arms, which were folded on the table.

"If I'd been here," Cid grunted sadly.

"If I'd fought them harder…" Yuffie said, dropping the shuriken into the ground repeatedly.

"If I could just find some way to shut you all up," Cloud snapped through gritted teeth, and they all looked at him. He started back furiously. "_Nothing_ is going to change if we sit around and bitch about what we could've done instead. What's done is done, and whining won't change a goddamn thing. So grow up, all of you."

There was a stunned silence following Cloud's enraged outburst, and no one could find anything to say. Cloud filled the silence. "Look," he said, voice still sharp, but he tried to soften the blow, "all of this is not helping him. We need to get back out there and try and find him before he ends up dead."

Roxas stood, nodding. "Yeah…" he said, his gaze going from sorrowful to determined. "Yeah, you're right."

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Okay, I typed it. Now I'm going to bed. If I made a mistake you can kiss my very very tired ass. curls up on pillow and sleeps


	16. Chapter 16

Hello people!! It's me again, not Chris but his annoying friend who forgot to type this up for a while so Chris is now after my blood! (cuz I have such tasty blood, yes I do! If you don't agree you can kiss my shoe!)

Anyways, it now occurs to me that Chris isn't grounded from the computer anymore. So why am I still here you ask? Well….I don't know. O.o Maybe because I have all of the pages of the story sitting next to the computer? Whatever the reason, Chris is currently backpacking through the woods, getting those muscles of his PUMPED UP!!! (and now I'm lonely…T.T)

Anywho, here's the story boys and girls! If you read it all I'll give you a piece of cake!

No, not really. Just kidding. X3

………….

"So…why am I still alive?"

"I think they want information from you."

"…I think by now they've realized I'm not going to say anything."

Shrug. "Then I have no idea."

Riku sat against a tree, Axel watching him. The silverhair wasn't tied up, but he didn't really need to be. The wound that went the whole way through his body wasn't healed, and he was in quite real danger, still, that he could die from it. He wasn't going to run. They'd kill him.

But he could talk, and he spent the hours talking to the redhead. Axel wasn't really interested, but he answered Riku's questions, occasionally asking a few of his own. The conversation steered around, going every direction. Riku wasn't really trying to learn anything – he was just a little bored. Okay he was really bored, and talking was the only thing he could do. Eventually, the conversation turned into a vicious Have You Ever game.

"Have you ever had sex?" Axel shot.

"No. Have you ever had a near-death experience?"

"Yes. Have you ever gotten high?"

"Yes. Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Nobodies don't count, no. Have you ever cut?"

Riku winced. "Yeah, a long time ago. Have you…ever burnt yourself?"

Axel snorted. "Fat chance. You ever fall in love?"

The question had Riku taken aback, his mind scrambling for something – anything – to say. Finally, he stammered, "Y-yes…yeah, but…"

Axel blinked, staring at him curiously. "But…?" he said slyly. "He or she did not return that affection?"

Riku shook his head. "No…at least, we both thought that he had, but gradually I started to see that I was just a replacement." A stab of pain shot though his heart, so powerful he nearly cringed. "A replacement for something that he thought he'd lost and could never get back. Something…_someone_ gone forever."

Axel stared at him in interest. "Who was that?" he asked, genuinely curious. It was interesting. The person that was described sounded exactly like the pyro himself…but the answer blew him away.

"Roxas."

Everything was frozen for a couple seconds, and then Riku was grabbed by both shoulders, spun roughly to face the redhead. He cried out in quiet pain from his injuries, but Axel's penetrating gaze held him.

"What?" he asked. "What do you mean, Roxas? He's still…he's not a part of Sora anymore?" his grip tightened, and Riku flinched, gritting his teeth.

"No…he's like us, remember? Werewolf, you know that. You can't merge with your Other if you have different blood."

By now, Axel's grip was so hard that Riku could hear his bones creaking, and the silverhair's breath hissed between his teeth as he tried not to yell. Seeming to comprehend the pain that he was causing, Axel released his viselike grip, and Riku slumped against the tree. Axel sat down hard right next to him, staring off into the distance.

"I thought he was gone…" the pyro breathed.

"He thought you were, too," Riku said truthfully. "When he learns that you're alive…" he shook his head, smiling. "He'll be so happy." In reality, that was a vast understatement, but Riku didn't really feel like saying it.

"But…he'll forget you," Axel said, looking sideways at the boy, who shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess…" he said sadly. "But as I said before, I'm just a replacement for someone he thought was gone. Just a cheap copy." Cerulean eyes stared into emerald ones. "So don't worry. I'm not going to get in the way. You love each other. Who am I to get in the way of that?"

Axel nodded, staring at the ground with a small smile. "Thank you," he said softly. Riku didn't trust himself to speak, so he just closed his eyes, nodding.

……

"So…how the hell are we going to do this?"

"To tell you the truth…" Cloud said, in answer to Sora's question. "I have no idea."

Tifa exploded. "You mean to tell us that you gave us that whole speech on regret not doing anything, and now you don't know what to do?"

"It was better than letting you bitch your – and his – life away," Cloud protested.

"And arguing is just as bad," Leon put in quickly. They both opened their mouth to reply to that, then thought better of it.

Leon couldn't help it, with the way they were glaring like they would kill each other. Cracking a grin, he said, "Aw, come on, kiss and make up."

They both turned their murderous stares at him, and he shrank back instinctively. Cloud stalked past him, growling, "How isn't the time for jokes, idiot," but Leon could detect the slightest trace of amusement in his blue eyes.

"But what are we going to do?" Roxas asked, slightly panicky at the total loss of progress.

"I –" Cloud started but a tentative know on the outside of the ship shut them all up. Riku poked his head inside, and there was a long stunned silence.

"Wh-what –" Sora sputtered.

"Looks like we don't really _need_ to do anything," Cloud said dryly. Roxas did hear him, rushing towards the silverhair worriedly, pulling him into a tight embrace.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" he said, slightly tearful, but Riku wasn't returning the gesture, and the blonde noticed it. Pulling back, he looked into the silverhair's eyes, and for the first time noticed the misery that weighed them down. "Riku…?" he asked, and Riku smiled painfully.

"Sorry, Roxas…" he murmured, ruffling the blonde's hair. "I'll explain everything later." Slowly, he pulled Roxas outside. The questioning look in the blonde's wide sapphire eyes slowly turned into shock and disbelief as he saw the redheaded Nobody, waiting for him outside.

"A...Axel?" he asked, voice choking up. Suddenly, he was gone from Riku's side, flying over the ground separating them, running into the pyro's arms. He sobbed into the black leather covering the redhead's shoulder.

"I-I thought you were d-dead!" his muffled voice cried, and Axel hugged him close, rubbing his back soothingly, saying gently, "It's alright, Roxy, I'm here now," and other reassuring phrases that were lost on the silverhair. With a sigh, he turned his back on the reunited couple, feeling the pain of loss ripping his heart apart into tiny pieces that were swallowed by the emptiness.

…………..

Aww….Kawaisonii…(Japanese phrase for pity)

What an emo chapter. Why does Chris write such sad things?

Oh, I'll be typing up the other chapter soon. Maybe. If I remember. XD

Review and you'll be sexed!! (or get cookies, which ever you prefer)


	17. Chapter 17

A.N. I'm back for a chapter! That's right, it's me, Chris the Holy (apparently I'm also Christ now, hahaha, wonder how _that _happened, _Kim). _Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this chapter. I know that I've made Roxas kind of a deuche, but just bear with me, all right? I have no idea what's going to happen. I've only written up to Chapter 20 on paper, after that is a complete mystery to me and the rest of y'all.

i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

"Holy shit," Cid grumbled. "So now we've got some heartless people running around with that Sephiroth bastard and his spawn?"

"Um…" Riku said quietly, trying to decipher what the man was saying, as he had said it at the speed of Sora on a Rock Star. "Yes…?"

"Do you know how many there are?"

"Nobodies, six. Overall, that makes ten."

"Shit…" Leon muttered, and Riku felt inclined to say, "But I think we've got one on our side, permanently." At his words, all of them shot a quick glance at Axel and Roxas, wrapped around each other in a corner of the room, completely oblivious to the looks that they were getting, far too busy making out and staring deeply into each other's eyes. Hurt flashed across Riku's face briefly, but he banished it from his features almost immediately. Only Sora, watching him with scrutiny, caught the look, and a wave of pity swept through him.

"Wow…" he thought with sympathy. "My Nobody's so cruel…and completely blind, too, apparently. He can't even see how torn up Riku is, and by the way he's acting, I doubt that he ever will."

Everyone on the ship was feeling very awkward by this point, put off by Axel and Roxas constantly all over each other. No one really wanted to say anything, but no one wanted to really be around them, either. Especially Riku, who was making a point not to look at the duo, and everyone could feel how uncomfortable he felt. Everyone was uneasy and on edge, not really sure what they were supposed to do.

So, doing the best to ignore the newly-reunited couple, they discussed for the better part of two hours what they were going to do, now that the threat had doubled. And Leon, somewhere in the middle of the conversation, said, "There were six wolves we were unaware of. Who's to say that there weren't be more?" They all puzzled over that for a while, as well as to how they could fight them. And, after two hours, having run out of things to talk about, they all agreed to meet back there the next day. Already, the shadows were lengthening as twilight set the sky on fire.

Riku sighed, walking out. Sora scampered after him, worry for his best friend springing to his mind. Axel and Roxas, noticing that everyone was leaving, followed them after a pointed cough/growl from Cid to usher them out. They caught up to the other two, and Roxas tugged at the back of Riku's shirt.

"Hey…is it all right if we crash at your place?" the blonde inquired, giving Riku the puppy-eyes. What once had been a cute gesture to the silverhair was now painful, and Sora picked up on his feelings.

"Nah, Roxas," he said quickly. "Go on to my house. My parents are out," as usual, "and we've got an extra room."

"Aw thanks, Sora," Roxas said cheerfully, pulling on Axel's hand, which was currently draped over his shoulders. "We'll try not to make a mess," he teased, and Riku and Sora winced in unison, both wishing fervently that the silverhair could have been out of earshot by the time that Roxas had let out that little comment.

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"You're being insufferably ignorant," Axel said, lying on the bed with his hands behinf his head and his emerald gaze fixed upon the ceiling.

"What do you mean by that?" Roxas asked, toweling off his sopping wet hair with irritation. "What could I possibly be ignoring?"

Axel couldn't help but smile at the blonde's defensive question. "If you knew, you wouldn't be ignorant of it." (Don't mess with a pyro's logic, people.)

"Get to the point," Roxas muttered, and Axel sighed.

"Riku. You're oblivious to how he's feeling right now."

Roxas snorted. "He's fine. I just talked to him."

"When?" Axel asked, surprise evident in his gravelly voice.

"A while ago, while you were in the shower."

"And did he sound…sad?"

"No…" Roxas said, then after a moment's hesitation, admitted. "Well, a little bit. I asked him about it, though, and he said he's just tired, which," he added quickly, 'makes plenty of sense, what with all that's going on…everything he's gone through."

It was Axel's turn to snort. "Of course. He's just tired." The tone of his voice was scathing, and Roxas bristled. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what I implied. Tired? Bullshit. That kid's as heartbroken and depressed as no other, and you've been completely overlooking it all."

Roxas sat on the edge of the bed, huffing. "Well, he said he was completely fine with me going back to you. He knows how we feel, he understands that."

"Of course he'd tell you that," Axel said, starting to get impatient. He thought about revealing what Riku had said, but he didn't think that Riku would want him to. Not yet. But he wanted to open Roxas' eyes to the pain that he was causing. "He still loves you, Roxas. He just didn't want to tell you, because it would be making you choose between the two of us. By saying that he's 'fine with it,' he's sparing you that decision. That's how much he cares." Axel rolled over, turning his back to the blonde. After a couple seconds, he heard Roxas' quiet footsteps, and a pressure on the bed, right behind him. A gentle hand set itself, slightly hesitant and gentle, on his shoulder.

"Axel…?" Roxas said tentatively.

"Hn," Axel grunted in reply, and he felt the hand on his shoulder flinch slightly, but his voice persisted. "Look…I'm sorry," he said quietly. "You were right, I didn't notice. Thanks for pointing it out for me."

There was a pause, and Axel turned his head, eyes alight. "No problem," he snickered, and Roxas caught on, once again, to his tone. "Hey!" he said defensively, hitting the pyro with a pillow.

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There was a tentative knock at the door, and Riku answered it grudgingly. Sora stood at the door, bouncing on the balls of his feet nervously.

"Oh! Hey!" he said, surprised, as though he'd expected Riku not to be there. "How are you?"

"Fine," Riku lied, stepping aside to let his hyperactive friend inside. Sora bounced inside, not letting the lie escape his notice, chewing on his notice, but Riku barely noticed. His mind was still muddled and confused, and Sora's voice brought him back to reality with a thud.

"So…you doing all right?" Sora asked, apparently unaware that he'd asked basically the same question ten seconds ago. Riku thought about pointing this out, but instead just shrugged it off. Whatever.

"Yeah, I'm doing all right," he said, and Sora caught the lie for the second time. Riku thought about it, then said, "Except for this hole in my stomach."

Sora blinked at him in complete confusion. "What, you're hungry? You want me to make you something?"

Riku grinned, lifting his shirt to reveal the bandages. "Ah, no, Sora," he teased. "I meant it a little more literally."

Comprehension at last. "Oh! Oh, right," the brunette exclaimed, getting it. (A.N. I know that Sora's not this ditzy, but right now he's really worried, so he's a bit tongue-tied. I dunno if he usually acts like that, but it's cute to me). He cast a nervous glance at the wound. "But do you need me to do anything for you?"

"Nah, I'm good," Riku reassured him, trying to resist the urge to shrug him off. It hurt too much to shrug.

"How are you still alive?" Sora blurted. (Talk about subtle). "After all you've been through. Even if you just count the stuff that's happened in the last two days, by all rights you should be dead."

Riku this time forgot, shrugged, and winced. "I don't know," he said, quietly, answering the brunette honestly for the first time that night. "I don't know why I'm still alive. Maybe it's all just dumb luck."

Sora nodded, glad that Riku was starting to open up and act like himself a little bit. Not much, but a little. "So.." he said quietly. "Do you…y'know, wanna talk about anything?"

Riku thought about declining the offer, and Sora honestly thought that he would. So it took him by surprise when Riku sighed, defeated, and said quietly, "Yeah, I do."

Silence, until, "Wait, really?"

He nodded. "Yes, really. Maybe…it would be good for me just to talk about it." Sora was stunned. Take back what he'd said a couple seconds ago. Riku wasn't acting like himself at all. But, he reasoned, it _would _be good for him.

A knock interrupted them, and they both turned to look at the door. They looked uncomprehendingly at it, and Sora, slightly put off and dazed, opened it without thinking.

"Hey guys!" said Kairi happily. Sora and Riku just stared blankly. "What?" she asked, laughing nervously but completely unworried.

U-um, what're you doing here, Kairi?" Sora stammered.

They still hadn't told Kairi anything, even that the Traverse Town gang had showed up. They had all agreed that getting her involved definitely wasn't a good idea, She didn't know that Riku was a werewolf, or that Roxas- and now Axel- had returned. Nothing. So having this discussion in front of her was out of the question.

"Damn," Sora thought as she let herself in. "Just as he was opening up, too…" But there was nothing he could do about it now.

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He's _gone?"_

"Both of them, yes."

"That traitorous bastard!"

"I _told _you it was a bad idea to trust."

Snarl. "What the hell's _that _supposed to mean?"

"He's turned traitor before—I told you what happened in Castle Oblivion."

Smirk. "Yeah, apparently he came _this close _to kicking your sorry, flowered ass."

"Shut up!"

"But he had a point. _You _were the traitor there, Marluxia."

Splutter. Rage. "Y-you were doing the exact same thing downstairs, you little sociopath!"

Smug. "Oh, shut up, Petal Boy. I was merely counteracting your actions."

Annoyance. "Can we get back to the point?"

"My pleasure."

"Thank you. What are we supposed to do now?"

"What else? Kill him."

Snort. "You really are shallow."

"Fuck you!"

"_Excellent _comeback, Petal Boy. What will killing the traitor accomplish, may I ask?"

"It will get him out of the way, for one thing."

"And you will, of course, be able to just waltz up to him and stab him in the throat—as he doesn't have a heart to impale—and just shimmy away? He and Number XIII go everywhere together, it won't be that easy."

Spit. "So, what the hell are you suggesting?"

"Kill XIII."

Silence, then cold laughter. "Oh, yes, that's much more sophisticated." Mocking. "Numbers XIII and VIII go _everywhere _together."

"Hang on, let's hear him out."

Huff. "Whatever."

"Blame it on…Riku, Sora, whoever of that little group is close to them and would have a definite reason to want to kill him, most obvious to have a motive. It will be child's play for us to convince Axel to fight for us, if he wants revenge on those who killed his 'beloved' Roxas. Is that good enough for you, XI?"

Grudgingly. "Fine. Whatever."

Smug again. "There's a reason that I was the tactician, Marluxia. A very _good _reason."

"So, basically, this is an elaborate frame-up."

"Essentially, yes."

Satisfaction. "Good. I'll get right on it."

(A.N. That was Saïx, Marluxia, and Zexion, people! Sorry for the confusion, but I was feeling too lazy to write it all out with actions and stuff. Besides, it sounds kinda cool like this. Definitely a different approach to things. I thought it was fairly easy to tell who was who. Then again, I wrote it. PM me if you want to know exactly.)

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A.N. Yo, this is Chris. I know, I know, unimaginable, right? Well, Kim's posts are few and far between, so I upped and did a chapter myself (I'm at her house right now, and I'm watching her play Kingdom Hearts. Ironic, no? She's in Monstro). Anyway, sorry for not being so vigil at my posts as I once was. A lot's been happening lately. Plus, I'm on vacation for two weeks after Sunday, so…I'll just have to bug Kim. You wanna help? Her sn's Nighgina, I don't know if she's already told you. She's got stories, too, but she…doesn't update much, if you haven't noticed by the length of time between posts on just my story. Heh heh…well, anyways, I hope you like this chapter. I've read all of the reviews that I've gotten so far, and I really appreciate those of you who've slogged through it with me for so long:

Phaz-How I love you, phaz. Thank you for everything, and Kim thanks you, too. You're the only one, I think, to acknowledge her writing my chapters. (Kim says 'I loves you's! Me loves you's long time!).

ChibiFrubaGirl-bliss

Schizo-of-Destiny-Hey, you weren't there for me in the beginning, but you've been with the gang ever since. Hope you're still around to see it to the ending. Or give me ideas for the ending, 'cuz I have no idea what I'm doing.

princessOFdarkness-Oh, one of my favorite reviewers, been with me ever since the Strong story. Thank you thank you thank you for sticking with me, I know it can be tedious at times.

Smiley Smackdown-Thank you soooo much for all of your support on this. And Sephy will be staying for quite some time, and he'll make a reappearance soon. I think. Maybe.

Boyhood bravery-Hey, never seen you before, but I'm so glad to have you aboard! If you haven't already noticed, I have few enough reviewers left to be able to write one of these out for each of them. Yup. Pretty pathetic, but hey, I'm still doing it, aren't I?

Mizuki Hikari-same can be said for you. Never seen you before, but hey, newcomers welcome. As long as you read the first story so you're not confused, everything'll work out. Glad to have you aboard.

And more thanks go to:

Sanluris

Divinehearts

Flurrydivider

Chibified Zombie

Sera

PP.Bunny

Never Remain a Memory

Haninozuka Mistukuni

Note: I only thanked the people who reviewed for Chapter 16, so don't get huffy and leave, just review for the next chapter and I'll see what I can do about getting your name mentioned so that people can check out your own stories and stuff. I may or may not be the one to type up the next chapter, but I'll see what I can do. Signing off!

BlackFalcon002, aka Chris


	18. Chapter 18

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Kairi didn't leave until very, very late at night, keeping up her incessant chatter about who was going out with who and other seemingly trite and pointless topics. Not once did she ask how they'd been or what they'd been up to, or why Riku was acting the way he was (basically, emo), and Sora was glad that she didn't. If she had, he probably would have blurted out the truth for lack of something better to say.

But she finally left at about one in the morning, by which time Riku was curled up on the couch like a cat, fast asleep, and Sora was getting more entertainment out of counting how many times his vision blurred in a minute than actually listening Kairi's talk. (A.N. No, I don't like Kairi. She gets in the way of my yaoi. How dare she.)

Sora cast a blanket over Riku's sleeping form, smiling to himself. Interesting. He slept like a cat, and turned into a dog during the full moon.

'Wolf, _wolf," _he chided himself. 'Not dog, wolf."

Hopefully, some of the silverhair's pain would ebb as he slept. Sora was so worried about him, especially with Roxas gone. Well, not gone, per se…but as close to it as he could get.

But how was Sora to know that, over the next few days, it would become painfully evident that sleep was ineffective, and the pain was unbearable? He couldn't know about it. Al least, not yet. Not for a few days. But for now, he was content to get in a chair and watch over his slumbering best friend.

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Roxas sat up in bed, the alarm clock shrill in his ears, even from the next room. Stretching, he yawned hugely and stumbled grudgingly out of the warm bed, trying to find his way without actually having to open his eyes.

He tripped into Sora's room, irritably slapping the alarm clock until its persevering shriek was finally cut off. Roxas looked blearily around the room, noticing that Sora wasn't there. He must not have come back from Riku's, which is where he had said that he was going.

"Hn," he grunted, shuffling back to his and Axel's borrowed room. The pyro hadn't even stirred, sleeping right through the alarm.

"Bastard," Roxas grumbled, collapsing back onto his own bed, falling back asleep. Well, he tried to, at least. He kind of hovered in between sleeping and waking…until a pillow was shoved over his head, and he was jerked fully awake. His arms and legs thrashed around against the smothering pressure. His panic increased as he started getting lightheaded, and he lashed out in a last-ditch attempt, and connected with something alive. He heard a grunt, and the pressure was released.

Roxas gasped for air, trying to blink the stars from his eyes. He scrambled up shaking his head to clear his ringing ears, his wide blue eyes casting around for whoever it was. When he caught sight of his attacker, his gaze widened even further.

"R…Riku?"

The silverhair glared back belligerently. "What, _Roxas?" _he spat.

The blonde couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Y-you…you…"

"Yes," Riku snarled, pissed. "Yes, I tried to kill you."

"B-but—"

"If I can't have you," Riku snapped, "no one can."

Roxas' eyes flickered to Axel, still out. But now there was something odd about his posture, the way that he was lying. Looking closer, the Nobody could see a circle of crimson beneath the red-haired man's head, and Roxas turned to the older boy furiously.

"What the hell?" he snapped. "What did you do to him?"

Riku smirked. "Don't worry. I didn't kill him."

Roxas opened his mouth to say something else, but something was bothering him, tugging at the back of his mind incessantly. Something wasn't quite right. And Roxas had an idea of just what it was.

"YOU BASTARD!" he yelled, launching himself at Riku, enraged. Riku leaned to the side, evading the blonde's swing at his face, but he wasn't quite fast enough as the Nobody spun. The silverhair staggered back as Roxas' foot hit him right in the stomach. He recovered quickly, and that was all that Roxas needed. He stood back, smiling triumphantly.

"You…you're not Riku," he said, and then with sarcasm and a sneer, "Nice try, though."

This time, it was the silverhair's turn to be at a loss for words. "Wh…" he started.

Roxas interrupted, giving his nose a flick. "You don't smell like him." He winked. "One of the perks of being a werewolf. But you don't smell like him." He scrunched up his nose. "You reek of darkness."

Riku glared. "Your rejection was enough to push me over the edge."

Roxas just smiled condescendingly. "And that excuse would have actually worked on me, except for the fact that the real Riku would have been seriously hurt by that kick to the stomach—considering that Sephiroth ran him through, that's not too surprising."

Riku tsked, disappearing in a swirl of darkness that engulfed his body, and Roxas felt his own sag with relief. So maybe it wasn't Riku, but whoever it had been probably could have done some serious damage.

'He must have been after something different,' he mused, going over to Axel to see if he was all right. 'But what?'

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Riku snuffled quietly as the light hit his eyes, turning over grumpily away from the morning brightness that was so rudely shining in his eyes. He thought he heard a giggle, until a pair of hands pushed him off the couch. He tumbled through the air for a second before landing on his stomach hard, with a loud yelp of pain.

Sora heard the thump, waking up almost instantly and looking around blearily. He snapped into full consciousness when he saw Riku on his stomach on the floor and Kairi hopping onto his spot on the couch, stretching herself out full-length.

Sora swore silently, leaping to his feet and going to Riku, whose arms had curled under his stomach under his body. The brunette looked up, starting to lose his temper.

"What the hell was that for, Kairi?" he demanded of the redhead.

In response, she just giggled, making his fuse burn down a few more inches. "What?" she asked, airy, aloof, and innocent, waving a hand carelessly. "I've done it before."

"Can't you let him sleep for once?" Sora snapped, and she blinked in surprise, not expecting such a reaction from him. The blue-eyed teen started to say something else, but Riku poked him with an elbow, warning him not to say anything that would later demand an explanation. The silverhair got his knees under himself, pushing himself up, but keeping his front turned away from the redhead. It was obvious why he did this, Sora knew, as Riku was facing him instead. Blood trailed in a thin trickle down his chin and was slowly staining the front of his shirt, turning the blue a reddish-purple, and his cerulean eyes were half-closed and clouded over from the pain.

Sora winced, but knew that he couldn't really say anything else without getting Kairi suspicious. Still, he pulled the blanket around Riku's shoulders, partly against the early-morning chills, but mostly to hide the growing stain. "Geez, give him a break, Kairi," he grumbled. "He's sick, which is why I was here all night. Lay off, will ya?"

Kairi sat up. "Oh, geez," she said, worried. "I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

Sora sighed, shaking his head dramatically, but caught a glimmer of amusement in Riku's pain-filled eyes. Sora helped the silverhair to his feet, and Riku leaned over, supposedly to whisper something important in the brunette's ear. Instead, he just whispered, "She thinks she's sorry _now, _just wait till I get my hands on her _later."_

Sora groaned. "He has to go," he said vaguely, and Riku shuffled off, smiling to himself, leaving Sora and Kairi behind.

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Well, that was a rousing success, now wasn't it."

"Shut it, asshole."

Smirk. "Aww, I fink someone's gwumpy."

"I _said, _shut up!"

Sigh. "_Both _of you shut up. Now, mind telling me what went wrong?"

Nod. "There was nothing wrong with the plan, but I made a few errors in the actual—"

"So you screwed up, Darkie." Interruption. "And all because of the way you smelled."

Through gritted teeth. "Better than smelling like a cheap hooker, with all that flowery crap. And anyways, _you _were the one that so conveniently failed to mention the _hole _in his _stomach, _Number XI."

"Don't you even try to blame this on me—"

"I _will _blame you, at least partly! He said himself that 'I could have gotten away with that excuse,' except for the _hole in Riku's stomach."_

Nod. "He's right, XI. That was quick thinking on his part, and you were the one who was supposed to have retrieved the brat's memories."

Sputter. "I thought he already knew!"

"Did _you_ already know?"

Silence.

"Exactly."

Grumble. "Well, what are we going to do now?"

Silence again.

Mocking. "Exactly."

Growl. "Marluxia…"

Indignant. "What? It's not like we have any other choice."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sigh. "We just have to kill them all, one by one."

Snort. "Yeah, getting them alone will be real easy."

"Shut up!"

Pondering. "Yeah, I seriously doubt that that's even possible."

"Well, we're going to have to come up with _something_."

"And soon."

Nod. "Yeah. Real soon."

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A.N. All righty then. This is the last chapter that Kim will write up for me. Maybe. At least for now, because I'm getting back on track, what with school and everything else that's going on right now. But I have to find a way to sync the new version of Microsoft Word, because it doesn't let me update with it. Oh, well, I'll figure it out eventually.

Anyways, so I wrote this chapter a long, long, time ago. So yeah, I don't really know what to make of it, but there ya go. Give me your opinion, because I need your insight on this. I'm very very lost, and I have no idea where this is going right now, so I need reviews and ideas and DON'T WORRY, Roxas and Riku will probably end up together. I really don't want to have to change that pairing, but I don't have very much control over that right now. Some characters just do what they want. Or who they want. Either way, things might change.

Post. Review. Whatever. But I need help, and I need it now.


	19. Chapter 19

A.N Ohmygawd, guys, I'm soooo sorry about being such a slacker. School's cracked down hard on my poor, delicate little head (ya, right), and it's been really hard for me to keep up with everything all at once. I want to give an incredibly special thanks to my 100th poster, Sanluris!!! This chapter is completely dedicated to them, and I love them for all they're worth! That was my goal, you see. I know, I know, pathetic, but hey, it's a big step for me. My writing's not been doing so good, so I need to start up again…so here we go. Thanks again for everything you've ever done to help me along so far.

Milestone: Reached! Yay!

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Riku braced himself on the tiled counter and spat into the sink. The white porcelain was dotted with crimson, and he closed his eyes, shutting out the sight. Breath came, but it was shuddery and weak as he sighed. Damn, it hurt. It hurt a lot.

Carefully, he plucked at his now-bloody shirt, trying to remove it in a way that wouldn't aggravate his wound further, hissing in pain as it failed. Still, he managed to get it off with some maneuvering, dropping it onto the floor carelessly, irritated by himself.

The bandages winding around his stomach were red, and he sighed once again, beginning to unwind them. They fell away from his body, almost floating to the floor and curling up there gently, like some giant white snakeskin falling from some height, withered and yet still elegant.

As for the wound itself…it wasn't pretty. Definitely healing, faster than he'd imagined, even, though it was now defiantly red to deny any such claims of getting better. Now that it had been torn open again, it would probably take another day or so to heal. Maybe even longer. And of course, it still hurt, obviously. It was hard to forget that. The pain he felt now was almost as strong as when Sephiroth had first plunged the blade into him. Wincing at the memory, Riku forced it out of his head as quick as he could manage.

'Damn,' he thought to himself, taking an extra second to examine it before rummaging through a cabinet for clean bandages. When his search proved fruitless, he repeated it out loud. "Dammit!"

A tentative knock came, echoing the obvious feelings of the deliverer, and Sora peeked around the doorway, almost unsure of himself. "Um, hey…" he said gently. "Do…you want any help with that?" He was worried, but he tried to hide it as best he could, knowing as he did how much Riku hated worrying others, though it was a common occurrence, these days.

The silverhair hesitated, but nodded slowly, knowing that Sora was anxious and worried about him despite his best efforts to hide it. Riku never wanted to say it to him directly, afraid as he was of the reaction he'd get, but he'd learned to read Sora like a book a long time ago. So the older teen was content with letting Sora believe that he could hide his true emotions from his best friend, and Riku smiled to himself as Sora smiled, pushing the door open the entire way, going to the cabinet and pulling out the gauze in a matter of seconds. Behind the brunette's back, Riku shook his head.

'Amazing,' he thought to himself. 'This kid knows my house better than I do.'

His thoughts were interrupted as Sora turned and got a good look at the wound, making him suck in his breath as he took in the sight of it.

"Jeez, Riku…" he said quietly. "Doesn't that hurt?" His blue eyes, upturned to gaze into Riku's cerulean stare, were full of concern and…was that sorrow?

"Well…I…yeah. Yeah, it does," Riku admitted, deciding not to lie, since Sora would see right through it anyways. Even so, he added hastily, "It's definitely getting better though," as a defiant excuse, of sorts.

Sora sighed with relief. "That's good," he said with a smile.

"It should be completely healed over by the next full moon," the silverhair added lightly, an innocent look stealing over his features, and just like that, the smile was gone.

"You're not still going are you?"

Riku blinked. "What, out with Roxas and Axel? Of course I am."

"But…last time, you almost _died—"_

Riku interrupted his friend, cutting off the words that he knew would follow. "Look, I know. And _believe _me, coming that close to dying isn't a pleasant experience, and I wouldn't recommend it for anyone. But the Organization is back, they've brought their buddies, and they want to kill everyone here." He reached out, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind Sora's ear, a tender gesture that left the brunette breathless. "I would _die _before letting them do that to you," Riku finished quietly, smiling, and Sora reached up, holding Riku's hand still.

"But…you keep getting hurt…I-I hate seeing you like this, always in pain, all the time!" He leaned against Riku, his head pressing firmly into the silverhair's bare chest, smelling the blood on him and not caring in the least. "It hurts me to see you like this…"

The silverhair's arms encircled his friend, strong and comforting, feeling the younger boy's body shaking with uncontrollable emotions.

"I'm sorry," he murmured into the brown spikes. "I'm so sorry…I'm the one who keeps hurting you…"

"N-no!" Sora protested, pushing himself away. "That's not—"

"Liar," Riku murmured, in a voice that was close to a whisper, but it caused Sora's words to stop as abruptly as if he'd been struck. "Of course I'm the one who keeps hurting you, and both of us know it. I started this whole thing."

"Wh…what do you mean?"

Riku smiled grimly. "They…Sephiroth and the others, the Organization…they want to be rid of the 'dogs' so that the blood runs pure…or something like that. At least, that's what they say."

"Which is just another reason you shouldn't go!" Sora cried, leaping at the opportunity. "If they all gang up on you, there's no way you would survive!"

"Which is why we're all going together," Riku insisted gently. "It's not like I'm going to be alone. At the very least, Axel and Roxas will be there."

Sora opened his mouth, an argument already in his mind and at the tip of his tongue, but before he could get it out, before it could actually be spoken, it was cut off by a loud scream that made their blood run cold.

"Oh, god, that's Kairi!"

They both took off, expecting the worst as they pounded down the stairs as fast as they could. Both were preparing themselves for a showdown with Sephiroth, or at least Kadaj or Saix. They skidded into the room, Way to the Dawn and the Ultima Weapon drawn, but the result was rather anticlimactic. Kairi was backed up against the wall, her eyes wide. Radiant Garden was up, but she didn't look like she was very inclined to use it, because it was shaking as she pointed it at the slender figure in the doorway, a guilty expression on his face, looking especially menacing with a white bandage wrapped clumsily around his head.

"Oops," Axel said, trying not to laugh but unable to hide his cocky grin as he looked at her. "Didn't think that she would be here. My bad."

Sora bit his lip, hard, to keep from bursting out with laughter, but instead grabbing Kairi's arm and pushing her out of the room. "Kairi…run!" he said, barely unable to control his mirth. Sora was trying to make it sound as though the Flurry of Dancing Flames really had returned from the dead and was trying to kill them. "Go!" he said, twitching furiously. "Go, we'll hold him off!"

Riku had a hand clamped over his mouth, obviously grinning as well, but Kairi didn't notice as she turned tail and ran for it, looking back over her shoulder once before disappearing out the back door.

Riku smirked at the lanky redhead, who dissolved into laughter. "You're going to get it now, you bastard," he said, laughing just as hard, which hurt, but he didn't care.

Axel clasped his hands to his chest, swooning dramatically. "Oh, dear me! What shall I do?" he crooned in a high falsetto. "It's the brave Keybladers, come to finish me off, whatever shall I do? Woe is me!" He threw his hand to his forehead, falling gracefully onto the couch, and all three, by this point, were laughing hysterically. Roxas poked his head in the doorway. "Oi," he said, disgruntled. "Is she gone yet, or are you just doing Shakespeare to scare her off?"

"Yeah, she's gone," Sora chuckled. "Packed it out of here like a bat outta hell."

Roxas shuffled in, avoiding Riku's eyes, afraid of what he'd see. Riku did the same, avoiding his gaze, but he noticed the pointed aversion of the Nobody, and he flinched slightly. Axel shook his head at the blonde disapprovingly, but Roxas ignored him.

"So…" Axel said after the laughter had died away. "I guess we're here because _you," _he pointed at Riku, "tried to kill Roxas this morning. Shame on you."

"_What?" _Sora and Riku spluttered at the same time, and Roxas said, "_Axel!" _like a housewife chiding a father for teasing his children. Axel giggled. "Yep. You snuck in and tried to smother him with a pillow. Kinky, huh?"

"Th-that's impossible!" Sora said, looking at Riku in shock. "He hasn't left the house since we got back last night, I should know, especially this morning, we were too busy taking care of Kairi, and trying to get rid of her!"

Axel held up a hand to stall any further arguments, saying, "Relax, _relax, _Sora, it just looked like him, which I guess was the point."

Sora kicked his shin, glaring murderously. "Give us a freakin' heart attack, why don't you? Jerk!"

"Well…okay, I mean, I can, but I'm warning you, I've never done CPR before. No need, you see."

"Oh, shut up!"

Roxas chuckled. "Oh, break it up, you two," he chided, then proceeded to tell them the entire story, from the time that he'd woken up to the time that the other had gone, and he'd taken care of Axel then hightailed it to their house. The two who hadn't been there listened with rapt attention while the redhead lounged on the couch, a half-smile playing over his features.

"Well…" Riku said, after Roxas was done and the awkward silence had dragged out for a while. "That sure as hell wasn't me."

"So _that's _what that was for," Sora said, pointing at the bandage. "I don't know why Kairi was so scared of you, it makes you look about as deadly as a gerbil."

Axel rubbed it ruefully, his embarrassed grin returning. "Well, yeah…I guess I wasn't really expecting them to sneak up on me while I was sleeping. I mean, that's pretty low, and anyone who'd do that's a total pussy." He looked at the others. "No offense, if you've done that before."

"I thought Zexion had more pride than that," Riku mused, partly to himself.

Sora shrugged at the silverhair's comment. "I guess, by this point, they're willing to sink to any level.

They all had a short 'hmm…' moment, which lasted for a couple moments while they all contemplated just what this meant for all of them. Axel finally broke the silence by shrugging and sighing loudly, "Well, we'll just have to be a lot more careful now."

"And we'll have to tell Cloud and the others what happened," Sora added.

Riku shuddered. "Eurgh. You can do that. I still think that Cloud's got a grudge against me. Now, that may be my mind playing tricks on me, but…"

"Oh, _be _nice," Sora reprimanded.

"He tried to kill me!"

"But he's saved your life, so you're even."

"Hey," Riku said with a wry grin. "I've saved his ass, too."

"Oh, really now?"

"Yep. If it wasn't for me, he'd be fanged and furry, now."

"Oh, knock it off," Axel laughed. "You sound like little kids."

"Mo-om!" Riku whined, tugging at Axel's hand. "Sora's being mean!"

Sora and Axel cracked up again at the silverhair's petulant whining, but Roxas could only manage a weak smile, though he didn't know why. Somehow, he didn't feel like laughing. In truth, it felt like he'd never laugh again.

"Anyways," Sora chuckled, "You don't have to worry, Riku, we'll just let Roxas over there tell the grumpy non-fanged and furry Cloud himself. After all, this shit did happen to him."

"Fine, fine," Roxas grumbled, pulling Axel to his feet. "We should head over there now, in fact. I just want to get this over with, if it really must be you." He started to walk towards the door, but Axel hesitated, then gently pulled himself out of the blonde's grip, resisting the other's pulling.

"You know…I'm gonna hang here for a while," Axel said carefully. "I mean, you can do this, right?"

"U-uh…" Roxas said, looking between the redhead and the door. "B-but…you're going to have me talk to Cloud by _myself?"_

Axel chuckled. "Yep. It'll be great practice, I promise. If you can face Cloud by yourself, you can be ready for anything, from an assassination attempt to facing Sephiroth. Go on, I'll catch up with you later, all right?"

"U-um…all right…" Roxas said, reluctantly drawing out of the room. As the door closed behind him, the pyro sighed heavily, sitting back down on the chair again. He looked odd, not dressed in an Organization cloak, instead using some of Riku's clothes.

"Poor kid," he said quietly. "He really thought I was dead, and now it's hard on everyone." He looked at Riku. "I really am sorry, you know."

Riku laughed. It was easier, now, with Roxas gone. "For what? Being alive? If you are apologizing for that, you're as much of an idiot as I thought you were."

Axel laughed, too, though it sounded a bit more forced than the silverhair's. "I did want to talk to you, though. Both of you."

Riku and Sora looked at each other, unsure of what to say, wondering what all that could be about. Without a word, Riku sat in the chair that Sora had slept in, while the brunette sat next to Axel on the couch. "So…" Sora said, fidgeting slightly. "What is it?"

Axel's finger jabbed straight at Riku, who jumped slightly. "You."

"Um…what about me?"

Axel dropped his hand, hesitating for a second before saying slowly, "I…well, I just wanted to tell you that…"

"Yeah?" Riku asked, even though his heart was telling him that he really didn't want to know.

"Roxas is saying that he…doesn't want you coming with us…to search…during the next full moon…he…" the pyro's words trailed off.

Something died inside the silverhair as the words left the redhead's mouth, and the silence that followed served only to fill that emptiness with a stabbing pain that overshadowed the wound he'd received from Sephiroth completely. This was a hurt that couldn't be fixed quicker with different blood, and he knew it. Riku stayed silent, not knowing what to say, but Sora was already there to fill in the silence, coming to his rescue as he had so many times before.

"Why the hell not?" the brunette cried out, indignant.

"I'm…not really sure, but…he thinks that Riku would do better with you guys, Sora," the redhead mumbled, not looking at either of them. "I…think he might be worried about your wound, but…I think…I just got the feeling that something wasn't right. It was…weird, y'know? Usually, I can tell how he's feeling or what he's thinking, but…this time, it was like he didn't know how to feel or what to think himself. Even he didn't know what he was saying. I've never seen him so confused over anything…I just…thought you should know. I'm sorry."

"It's…all right," Riku said hollowly, staring straight ahead with eyes that were obviously nowhere near the room where the three of them were sitting. "It's…better to hear it from you than him."

"He was going to tell you the day we were going to head out, but I thought that it would be easier if you heard it beforehand…you know, so you're not surprised when he…tells you. He doesn't know why I'm staying here right now, so he'll be telling you when…you know."

Riku smiled, and it was painful, for him and those watching him carefully. "I understand, and you're right, it's better to hear it ahead of time, than…well, thank you, Axel."

"You honestly can't mean that," the redhead said desperately. "I just told you that he's trying to get rid of you, and you _thank _me? Shouldn't you be, y'know…mad?"

"I guess, in a weird way, I am," Riku said, his eyes returning to the present to stare into Axel's emerald gaze. "But not at you, or at Roxas. I'm more angry at myself than anything."

"Why the hell—"

"Because even after this, I can't stop loving him. And I hate it, and I know I should be pissed…but I can't do it."

Axel sighed, shaking his head. "You're…doing the same thing that I did. I presumed that he'd gone to Sora permanently, and I tried to get over him. I tried to find a distraction…and the one that I found came in the form of a quirky, hyperactive, and overall painfully cheerful blonde ditz with an affection for water and being spontaneously random."

"Demyx."

"Yep. But I think that…Roxas did much better at forgetting me than I did him. He found…someone who truly loves him. I don't think Demyx and I really connected…not like you two."

"That's not true!" Riku protested, startling both of them with his vehemence, and the force that he put behind his words. "No matter what he did or the number of people he'd go through, he could never forget you, believe me. The reason…anything ever connected between us was because I reminded him of you, and he told me that on a number of occasions. I guess I shouldn't have been led on by that, because…being with someone because they think you're like the one they really want to be with…it's not…a true bond. It's weak, easily broken." He smiled at the pyro, the reassurance coming through in everything from his expression to his words. "Don't worry. He won't ever forget. He couldn't if he tried." Shaking his head, he stood.

"Shit, I need coffee," he grumbled. "I can't preach or whatever if I'm half-asleep. I don't even remember what I said just now, that's how tired I am. You guys want anything?"

They both answered, Sora declining and Axel accepting. The pyro waited until he could hear Riku in the kitchen, still muttering to himself, before leaning back to stare at the ceiling, saying quietly, "Amazing."

"What's amazing?" Sora asked curiously, and the pryo continued.

"He just…doesn't give up, does he."

"Riku? Well, no, not often, but what do you mean?"

"Look at him—he's torn apart by what Roxas is doing to him, and Roxas is being a total dickwad if I may say so myself…but he's still trying to save _our _relationship. I mean, he could've taken that opportunity to place some doubt, or something, but he just focuses on reassuring me that Roxas will love me forever, without a spare thought to the pain that it brings him to see the two of us together. I mean, he's good at hiding it, I'll give him that, but if you're paying attention, it's pretty noticeable—if you know what to look for, of course."

Sora smiled sadly. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about. We've been friends forever, I can read him pretty easily by now. He flinched when something hurts him, though his expression will _never _change. I've always wanted to be able to do that. And if he does show anything, it's—

"—only for a second," the two said together, and Axel nodded. "I''ve noticed. But it doesn't seem like he cares for his own feelings…he's more concerned with Roxas' happiness than his own. I don't know if that's very healthy."

Sora agreed with a murmur that was more of an assenting hum than words, then said sadly, "Well, I think I can say one thing for certain."

"What's that?"

"It's going to be a very long time before he forgets anyone."

They fell silent, lost in their own thoughts, one thinking about what he could do, if there _was _anything that he could do, the other wishing things that would never come true.

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A.N. YAY! Chapter done! I rewrote the entire thing, because I'd had an earlier draft that made absolutely no sense, even to me. But it went kind of along the same lines as the chapter above, so there we go! And this one's longer! So here we have Chapter…oh, god, I've lost track. But I am going to break it off somewhere to become the third and final book. God knows what I'll call it. God knows when I'm going to get around to it. In short, God knows a lot more than I do, and I'm very jealous about that little fact. I don't think Jesus ever got a D on a math test, but _I _sure did, oh yes. Anyways, I will be seeing you all later, honeys! O how I love you all so much! I thank every single one of you for absolutely everything you've ever done! I love you! I LOVE YOU!

P.S. First, let's say, three posters get their names and my dedication in my next chapter! Because I feel like being an idiot!


	20. Chapter 20

A.N. Yay! I finally finished it!

_(bows) _I'm so sorry for taking this long to type this up and get it out. My computer went all kablooie, just like it did a few chapters ago, but I'm going to have to get a more original excuse for next time. Haha, just kidding. No, my computer actually did combust. Smoke was _literally _coming out of it. Scared the living shit out of me, but that's not important right now.

What is important is…the chapter's out! Riku, Roxas, and Axel…oh boy, this is going to be so much fun. That was sarcasm. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I have, actually, four different versions of this chapter, but this is the one that I decided on. I like it the best, and everyone seems to be less OOC than the rest of them. Anyhoo, R&R, because you love me.

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The rest of the month was painful for all of them. Roxas continued to avoid Riku, continually making lame excuses to leave the room when the silverhair entered, and everyone was getting irritated with him. The only time he ever really spoke to the silverhair to tell him the message that Axel had already delivered. Riku never said anything, just taking it, but falling into an even deeper depression, barely eating or talking to anyone, not really leaving the house so that he wouldn't have to deal with Roxas' constant departures. Sora and Axel had to take turns fretting over the two of them, while the Traverse Town gang just stood on the sidelines and watched, not sure what to do. All were high-strung and on alert, always jumpy and watchful of any attack. They learned quickly not to come up behind Cloud, even if you weren't trying to be quiet, as Sora found out when he'd tapped him on the shoulder and found himself two seconds later pinned to the ground with one blade at his throat and another drawn back to strike. After that, they went around to the front.

In addition, they also now had Kairi to deal with, which put _everyone _in a bad mood. Axel had to dive under the bed and into the bushes whenever she happened to show up, staying there until she went away. She was freaking out over their accidental meeting, and kept pestering Riku and Sora, when she could find them, to help her search for him, which was the last thing that either of them wanted to do right now. They had other things to do than to console Kairi by helping her on her wild goose chase that would obviously turn up nothing. They'd reassured her over and over again that this time, they were sure he was dead ("When a Keyblade goes through your head, I think you're pretty much finished," Sora had pointed out), but she refused to listen, ranting to them and going over plans to search him out with them, and Sora finally realized why everyone found her to be such a pain sometimes. She really wasn't that bad, but she never seemed to learn when was a good time to leave someone alone.

But now, there were only two hours until the full moon, and Axel was making a last-ditch attempt at talking some semblance of sense into his stubborn boyfriend.

"Look, just tell him that you've changed your mind, and he can come with us after all," he said desperately, but Roxas just shook his head.

"_No, _Axel, for the last time," he said firmly, glaring with his sapphire eyes. "He's _not _coming with us, and that's final."

"Why not?"

It took Roxas a few seconds to come up with an answer, and he was forced to really think about it for the first time. Why _didn't _he want Riku to come with them? He was just as fast as the blonde, if not more so, so he could definitely keep up with the two of them. He was an amazing fighter, and there was no chance of him starting a fight with Axel. The two of them got on better than Riku had with himself this last month.

No, it wasn't because he didn't think that Riku wasn't up to par. He was afraid that being with him, running through the forest with him again, would bring up memories of their past excursions, surfacing the emotions he'd been fighting against for so long. He didn't want to admit the fact that he was worried that, for the first time, he'd see clearly just how much he loved and missed his silverhaired ex.

He returned with a jolt to the present, and heard himself babbling, "I'm afraid his wound will—"

"Bullshit, it's been fully healed for almost a week, now, there's nothing wrong with him."

"Look, I just don't want him around me, all right?" Roxas yelled, losing his temper. "Why the hell do you have to make it anything more than that?"

Axel's eyes narrowed. "You're being a real bitch, you know that?"

"Better than being a nosy bastard who won't just shut up and leave well enough alone!"

The pyro flinched back slightly, opening his mouth to say something, then shutting it with a snap and shaking his head, exasperated. Roxas felt regret almost immediately. Sure, he'd been annoying and nosy, but he didn't deserve to get yelled at.

"Look, I'm sorry—" he started, but the pyro cut him off, not even giving him enough leverage to finish his apology.

"Fine. Whatever. It's your stupid decision."

The door shut with a snap, announcing the redhead's absence from the room. With him went the warmth that had been there up until now. Roxas suddenly shivered, shaking his head. He stared at the closed door, hopelessness sinking in to his subconscious.

'This is getting way too complicated,' he thought to himself sadly.

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A knock sounded at the door, and Riku walked downstairs to answer it, knowing already who it was, pulling on his wristband carefully as he went. He'd traded in the white one for the black, as it was easier to see at a glance, which was helpful when it was silver fighting silver.

He opened the door, and Sora grinned at him. "Hey, Riku," he said, happily but carefully, as though hoping that the silverhair wouldn't slam the door in his face. Riku forced himself to smile back, strained though it was, it was still better than just staring at him blankly. He'd had to practice his smiles, and now almost none of them were real, just hollow shells of false happiness to cover up the oblivion that he felt inside.

"Hey," he replied. "What's up?"

Sora shrugged. "Not much, really. Just wanted to see you before…well, you know."

Riku winced. "Yeah. I do know." He stepped back, allowing Sora to enter the house, which the brunette immediately noticed was darker than usual. He had a slight panic attack inside, knowing his friend's tendency to lean towards the darker side of life.

"Thanks," Riku said quietly, jerking Sora out of his reverie.

"For…what?" he stuttered, taken aback for a second.

There was a slight moment of hesitation, and then the words came tumbling out. "For…for trying. For actually caring about me…and…trying to help me…to cheer me up when I've been kind of…a wet blanket, to put it nicely. And…I also wanted to say I'm sorry….for not...I don't know, thanking you earlier, I guess."

Sora shook his head, stalling any further words from the silverhair with a few of his own. "Riku," he said, firm but gentle. "You are my _friend. _This is what friends _do. _I know that you would do the exact same thing for me if our positions were switched, believe me. And, if anything, I should be the one apologizing. I guess I hate to see you so down, but…I guess I've become kind of a nuisance to you."

Riku was the one who had to interrupt this time, ruffling the brown locks fondly, a real smile, the first one in what felt like forever, gracing his features. "You could never be a nuisance, Sora. Not to me. Not when—"

His words were abruptly cut off turning into a bark, and Sora looked down at the silver wolf. Even though he'd changed, he managed to pull off an irritated look, obviously annoyed at having been cut off mid-sentence. Sora laughed at his expression, taking the time to ruffle Riku's head in return.

"Let's go," he laughed, and Riku huffed quietly, the two heading out.

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"All right," Tifa said, sitting back in a chair. "So, we all get the point that it's not a good idea to go into the forest, but we're doing it anyways, right?"

There were nods and quiet barks of consent from around them room.

Tifa nodded, satisfied at the response she'd gotten. "And let's not forget that they have more than double the numbers that we originally thought they did. So, yeah….we're going to have to be a bit more careful with that, but now we have Axel, so that should give us some kind of an advantage."

The pyro definitely made the most odd-looking wolf that any of them had ever seen. His body was much too anorexic to be healthy for any kind of canine, and his bright red hair made it look even more unnatural, standing our brilliantly from everything else, and it made his luminous green eyes stand out even more.

But probably the most disconcerting fact was that the tip of his tail continually burned with a tiny flame that smoldered gently, not even singing the red hair at all. Everyone's gaze, even Cloud's, kept wandering to it, slightly unnerved, but Axel didn't really seem to notice, keeping his emerald eyes on the black-haired woman currently talking, even though she, too, was preoccupied with staring at him with an expression that one could describe as 'worried,' to put it lightly.

"U-um, anyways, yeah," she said quickly, pulling herself back to reality as she felt the red wolf's gaze on her, and Cloud snorted, making everyone shoot him a short glare that he returned with a vengeance. "So, _anyways," _Tifa continued, giving Cloud a Look that he blew off, "basically, we're going right now to judge…well, their strengths. And to find if we can get to where they hang out when they're not…well, furry. So we're avoiding, if at all possible, a direct confrontation. If you manage to find yourself in an inescapable battle, call for backup. I think we all know how to do that by now."

They all waited for a second, before deciding that she was done and heading out, with Cloud pausing for a second to hiss, "How long did you practice that little speech?" in Tifa's ear and avoiding her subsequent punch before ducking out the door. Cid stayed in his seat, bitching about how he felt "fuckin' useless," and "why the hell should they keep me around, I wonder," but most ignored him. They all knew, as well as he did, that he was their backup, and they needed him there to pull them out of an emergency.

The groups split up as they reached the edge of the trees. Roxas and Axel yipped a goodbye of sorts, but Riku, standing by Sora, didn't even raise his head, keeping his now-dull cerulean eyes on the ground firmly, and they left without another sound.

Yuffie, Tifa, and Sora broke off from the remaining three—Leon, Cloud, and Riku—and the two groups simply nodding to each other, trying to avoid any excess sounds, wanting to go unnoticed. Unfortunately for them, it was far too late. Though they were miles apart, lupine heads twisted simultaneouly, a growl rising like a demon's chorus through the obscurity of the woods.

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Saïx fidgeted restlessly, looking between the silver wolf and the forest continually, a seemingly neverending, purring growl comng from the depths of his throat. Kadaj paced back and forth, chunnering to himself without pause, his eyes fixated on some point beyond the distant horizon currently out of view of anyone else. Yazoo and Xigbar were pushing each other around for lack of anything better to do. Zexion and Demyx were asleep, and Marluxia kept dozing off where he sat. Everyone else was doing whatever they could to entertain themselves, tired of just sitting around and waiting.

An almost indiscernable bark had them all on their feet instantaneously, silent and waiting, like sled dogs (pardon the pun) at the starting line.

The second soft bark came, and before the echo had even begun to fade away, still hanging fresh in the air, they were gone, disappearing into the woods without a trace of them left behind.

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Riku flew along the ground, with Cloud and Leon doing the same overhead, their feet making almost no noise as they struck branch and soil. The silverhair had slowed his pace, the two men being slightly ahead, though not by very much. He'd done this purely for tactical purposes—their scent ahead of him would tell the wolf if they changed direction or stopped—but they were both nervous about it. Actually, all of them were nervous about it. Cloud and Leon didn't want Riku behind them under any circumstances, and Riku knew how edgy they were, and in turn it made him fidgety as well. Well, about as fidgety as you can be while running through the forest and trying to keep track of someone's smell. Which is quite difficult to do, in case you haven't tried it for yourself.

But the problem was, they weren't really watching him.

Something slammed into him, knocking him to the side without giving him any time to react. They tumbled over and over, finally coming to a halt in a tangle of limbs, both of them snarling already, trying to get a hold on each other.

Riku was up first, staring down with his lips drawn back in a growl, his cerulean eyes taking in the sight of the dark silver wolf whose lean, sinewy frame gave him away as Yazoo. Another lupine form, a darker shade of silver than the other two had taken Riku's place, running where the silverhair had been not a second before, following Cloud and Leon, not missing a beat. And even as Riku watched, taking his eyes off Yazoo for a second, the shadows gathered around the running form, the fur lightening, body becoming more muscular, the black wristband shimmering into existence. Having taken Riku's place flawlessly, if someone hadn't been watching closely, they wouldn't have thought that Riku had ever stopped running.

Riku took a step towards his receding twin, but Yazoo cut him off, lunging at the smaller wolf. The silverhair danced back, avoiding the slashing ivory teeth, a retaliation already prepared. Unfortunately, before it could be executed, something else slashed into his back. He whirled, coming face-to-face with a lupine face…that was upside-down. It was, in fact, belonging to an entirely upside-wolf, standing in midair, all four paws pointing straight up towards the full moon above. Ebony fur, streaked heavily with a greyish-white that gleamed in the moonlight, bristled as Xigbar snarled, glaring at the silverhair with his one good eye. The other was still covered by a jet black patch, though it was altered a bit to fit the now-lupine face.

Riku barely had time to tense as they both sprang at him, and then everything flipped into a whirlwind of fur, blood, and teeth.

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The brunette heard the noise of the fight first, and called out to the other two to stop, listening to the growling and snarling and yelping.

"What the hell is that?" Cloud muttered, and Leon shrugged.

"No point in speculating about it," he replied, voice low. "We should just go see, I guess…"

But what they saw when they did go back to look took them by surprise, because Riku was apparently putting up a vicious fight against Yazoo and Xigbar, as the other two snapped at him, the fight going first one way and then another, mostly in the favor of the two. And yet, Riku was also sitting below them on the ground, watching the fight with an intense interest.

"What…" Leon muttered, looking between the two. "What the fuck is going on here?"

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Two lupine forms streaked through the forest side-by-side, matching each other's speed comfortably, but still, one was feeling off.

It wasn't that he didn't want to be running with Axel, but Roxas felt odd…off-balanced somehow. He had gotten too used to running beside Riku, and Axel had the constant fire, making him easily the most noticeable thing in the forest. Usually, the shadows were enough to cover even his golden fur, but fire was a whole other story. It illuminated them, a beacon in the darkness, lighting their way, and lighting them up for others, as well. Not only that, but it succeeded in making Roxas incredibly jumpy, and he was skittish and uncomfortable. He felt completely exposed, and kept wishing that there could be some way to put it out.

Axel, of course, paid no attention to it whatsoever, obviously used to it, and Roxas could do nothing but put it out of his mind as best he could. It wasn't working at all, so far, but there was only so much that he could do.

But he did have other things to ponder over. Like, why they were out looking for the stupid hideout when Axel could tell them about it. But whenever they'd asked, he'd just shrugged and changed the subject, obviously uncomfortable. So far, they had gotten nothing out of him but a lot of shrugs, as if that were a clue. It had taken both Leon and Tifa to keep Cloud away from him.

"I don't blame him," Roxas thought to himself. "It…kind of is a pain in the ass. There's definitely something weird about this." He whipped to the right, barely missing an elm that had snuck up on them. 'Could…Axel be a traitor…? No. No way. He changed sides for me, he loves me, dammit!' Pushing his nagging doubts to one side, he decided that maybe thinking about the fire for a change wasn't such a bad idea. But now, the thoughts wouldn't leave him alone.

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A.N. Well, there you have it. All done. And yes, I made Zexion do his shape-shifting for this chapter, because I love him so. And I know that he can. So bleah. If you don't like it…nyeh. Too bad. I don't think….wait, okay, there is _one _version of this that doesn't have him in it (I think he's the one that goes after Sora and them, but I'll be damned if I can remember exactly.) Anyways, tell me what ya think!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO—Because I love y'all!

BlackFalcon002, aka Chris/Christ/Potstickers/Procrastinator


	21. Chapter 21

A.N. Awright, chapter…um…Damn…I have no idea what chapter this is…crappity…ah, well, it'll tell me when I update. I thank absolutely everyone who was kind enough to remember to review, and I swear that I'm going to get all of your names in here one day. Right now, as I'm writing this, I have no access to the Internet, so I'll have to do it another chapter. Actually, I might just stick it all at the end of this section of the trilogy. Yep, that's right, folks, I'm going to end this one whenever I feel like it and continue on to the end with all of you in tow! Yay!

I do have a couple poll questions for you. Just write the number and the name, pleez. I have my own opinion about this, but I want reader opinions as well. Do this in the review or PM (PM is preferred, if you could), or don't do it at all, whatev. I am adamant about one thing, though—NO RIKUSORA. Please. I know you like it, and I'm putting in plenty of fluff, but that's not how this series started and that's not how it's going to end. So here we go:

1)Roxas X

2)Riku X

3)SoraX

4) additional pairings

Thanks! This'll help out a lot!

(Jesus, that's a lot of words)

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"We should've brought a frickin' wolf with us," Yuffie bitched as they traveled though the forest quickly, just shy of a jog. "It would've made this a shitload easier, I mean, just _maybe. _I don't like—"

"Yuffie," Tifa said, as calmly as she could manage.

"What?"

"Shut up."

"But—"

"Look," Sora interrupted through gritted teeth; even he was getting annoyed. "You've been complaining for the last hour, ever since we got into this whole thing. And if it's not one thing, it's another. Can't you just…y'know…tone it down a little? Give it a rest, Yuffie. Please."

There was a too-short silence, and then an indignant bark from the ninja. _"What? _Hey, I have been busting my ass hauling it all over this damned forest, looking for, really, nothing in particular, and now I've got the two of you complaining about me voicing my opinion about these absolutely atrocious conditions that I'm _forced _to endure. You're just trying to keep me all bottled up inside until I explode—"

Both Sora and Tifa muttered something under their breath at this.

"—because then you two could just complain about each other, instead of this…slightly awkward threesome."

"Yuffie, what are you talking about?"

"Now we're just going to wander around forever, hopelessly lost in a neverending abyss of—"

"How is this an abyss?"

"—trees and darkness, and we'll just have to starve until we eat each other as we die of starvation. We'll start on the one who kicks it first (it'll probably be Sora)—"

"Yuffie, will you shut up?"

"No, I don't think—"

"Yuffie!"

"I—"

"SHUT UP!"

It was then that she noticed that they had stopped walking, and right after that, she heard it, too—the rustle of a single leaf as it fluttered down from the trees overhead. There was barely enough time for them to look up before dark shapes whirled upon them from above.

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"Wonderful," Cloud growled quietly, through tightly gritted teeth, obvious annoyance on his features. "Now what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"If you think I can tell you, you're dreaming," Leon snapped back, both of their eyes following the fight closely as it raged on below. By now, both of the silver wolves were in the thick of things, trying to kill each other, by the looks of it. But of course, at least _that _was understandable, unlike everything else that was currently happening. Xigbar and Yazoo disappeared into the forest, leaving the two alone to deal with it, but Leon and Cloud barely noticed, still trying to follow the other fight. The two silver wolves paid them no attention, whirling upon each other with murderous intent, snapping and snarling.

Leon growled. "Feel like remembering which one's which?"

"Fuck you."

By now, it was way too late to do anything at all, and they could only watch as the dogfight continued. The brunette fidgeted, wanting to help in some way but having no idea how. Of course he wanted to help Riku (unlike Cloud, who thought the silverhair was working for the other side, or something like that), but which one was it? Cloud just watched stoically, not moving a muscle. At least, he didn't move until there was a slight sound on either side of them, and they turned back-to-back instantaneously. Yazoo and Xigbar exploded from the foliage toward the two men, teeth bared, snapping viciously. They were prepared for the hastily fired shots from Leon, having similar weapons themselves when they actually had the right number of digits to use it.

What they weren't prepared for was an angry blonde wielding a sword as long as they were to come charging at them, and Xigbar received a long streak of red along his side. He snarled, whirling to attack, but was forced to leap away as the Gunblade whistled by his side. Black hair fluttered away into the dark, neatly clipped.

Yazoo lunged at Cloud, who parried and feinted, avoiding the silver wolf's teeth. Unfortunately, they still happened to be up in the trees, and the movements carried the blonde too far. Yazoo followed with a growl, and they were both swallowed up by the impenetrable black air.

Completing two full turns in midair, Cloud landed on his feet, swinging up automatically with the Tsuragi. The early strike, unexpected, caught the silver wolf off guard, still on his way down. Striking him square in the chest, the silver blade carved its way up to his neck, releasing a waterfall of crimson blood that hit the ground and instantly turning it black. Instead of landing gracefully on his feet, like he normally would have, Yazoo crashed into the ground, silver body crumpling pathetically, blood still pouring from the gaping wound.

Cloud knew that an injury like that wasn't going to kill the goddamn thing, but at least it would keep it out of the way for a while, long enough for him to come back and kill it whenever he wanted. It would be dead soon, anyways. It didn't matter how fast they healed; he seriously doubted anything could take a hit like that and live. If Yazoo had been even his original Jenova form, he still would be dead right now. Ignoring the limp form, he turned his gaze skyward to see who was winning the fight up above him.

So far, there was no clear winner. In fact, neither side was gaining any ground at all, being too evenly matched. Xigbar flitted about, constantly disappearing and reappearing (something that was obviously highly annoying the brunette), but Leon managed to stay with him the entire time, blocking every attempt at a strike or charge. The two seemed to be reading each other's minds.

"I fucking hate you," Leon snapped, irritated by his enemy's constant disappearances.

Seeing absolutely no reason to help, Cloud turned his attention back to the one other fight that was currently happening. The two other silver wolves, identical in almost every way, were still obsessed with trying to tear each other apart, ignoring everything else. The blonde sat back a bit, watching and patiently waiting for his opportunity.

Riku (the real one) snarled as fangs scored his side deeply, and he retaliated instantly, giving as good as he got.

It came as a sort of relief to him that they were fighting in lupine form, as he still hadn't gotten quite used to seeing himself…well, with fur. And even though he had had to fight a replica of himself multiple times, it was still difficult to strike at something with a face that was the mirror image of your own. This was definitely an improvement upon that.

Still, this fight wasn't easy at all. He wasn't even winning. He was already hurt from Yazoo, and even though his wound was already beginning to heal (that was an improvement, too), Zexion was definitely an able fighter. Though he wasn't the strongest foe, he was by far one of the quickest and the smartest, drawing Riku in before countering swiftly, dodging in and out, the whole time feinting and attacking unexpectedly. Still, strength was on Riku's side, and he was ready and willing to use it, attacking savagely, using the lack of power on the part of his opponent to his full advantage.

As it turned out, strength may have saved his life, as his enemy rushed. Riku, quick on his feet, sidestepped and slammed his body into Zexion's as he passed. The wolf tried to avoid the blow, but couldn't, sent off-balance and slamming hard into a tree. For a split second, the disguise that he had donned flickered, fading slightly into its original dark slate color.

The tactician, recovering swiftly, landed on his feet. Unfortunately, this time he wasn't wuite fast enough, and in a quick blur of cruel steel, the Tsuragi left him pinned to the tree, the blade going through the lithe body and deep into the tree behind him. He struggled, blood pouring from between his jaws, before his head dropped and he was still.

"Fucking thing _has _to be dead," Cloud growled furiously.

Riku gaped, an expression never meant for the face of a wolf, turning to Cloud with utter confusion written on his features. In return, the blonde just shrugged.

"Figured he'd drop it eventually," he said shortly, turning his attention back on the fight above them as Riku just stared.

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Tifa's foot hit the side of Loz's head as he leaped at her, so instead of the wolf's jaws closing on her he plowed headfirst into the ground. Sora dodged the furious blue wolf, who whirled and pursued him relentlessly. As Sora fended off the seemingly never-ending attacks, the keyblades he was wielding wheeling and sparking against the bleached fangs. Yuffie and Tifa continued to worry Loz, trying their hardest to keep the bulky form between them.

Yuffie's shuriken zipped around his head, scoring deeply along his side. But as she whooped with excitement, grabbing it and sending it whizzing off again, she didn't notice the bright blue eyes that watched them, gleaming with sadistic anticipation.

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It became slowly apparent to the blonde wolf that they were being tailed (pardon the _really _bad pun). He chuffed quietly at Axel, who grinned back, his astonishingly bright green eyes gleaming.

They split suddenly, and Roxas immediately took off, streaking off through the darkened forest like chain lightning. Well, like _furry _chain lightning, but same thing, right?

Axel, however, merely watched him go, slowed his pace. Stopping completely, he turned, lying down as he waited for their pursuer to catch up.

He didn't have long to wait. With less noise than a panther could have pulled off, Sephiroth emerged from the engulfing darkness, glaring down at Axel imperiously. The pyro yawned, but his eyes grew no less bright as he stood, shaking himself slightly. Slowly, he walked forward until they were barely a foot apart. Emerald and sapphire gazes bored into each other, the force of the stares holding no more emotion than the actual stones, only holding an intensity that would make any normal person buckle at the knees.

They stayed, motionless for a few seconds, before Axel snorted, backing away slightly, obviously bored with the encounter. A slight growl rose in the great silver wolf's throat, and the pyro ducked his head, disappearing, swallowed up by the heart of darkness.

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A.N. WOO! What's _that _supposed to mean, huh? Nyaah, I'm not telling you! Well, you're gonna find out eventually, but I can tell you right now that this was nothing like what I had in mind for this chapter. Oh, well. I've let the beast out, I might as well just get dragged along at the end of the leash and see where it wants to go. Wow, that's almost as bad as the 'tail' pun. Ugh, I'm getting too old for this…

Love y'all!

BlackFalcon002, aka Chris

(And all that jazz)


	22. Chapter 22

Woo! Chapter…uh…I'm gonna say 21. Just as a guess. But I'm making a third part to this, so it can be a trilogy. How totally awesome is that? Not very. Anyhoo…just read.

READ! I COMMAND YOU!!

Nerts! Chris

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A streak of light cut through the forest, blinding all the fighters engaged in combat on the ground. Well, almost all the fighters. It struck Yuffie, and she screamed, the sound cutting through the forest as easily as the light had. The thunderbolt stayed for a few seconds before finally dissipating. Yuffie staggered, sitting on the ground heavily, groaning painfully. Everyone else, human and wolf alike, didn't pay her much attention, trying to get both the buzzing from their ears and the spots from their eyes, as both would impede their ability to fight greatly.

Sora was the one who recovered first, and hurried over to Yuffie as fast as he could, still trying to blink away the last of the multi-colored spats in front of his eyes.

"Yuffie! Yuffie, are you okay?" he asked.

She coughed once, shaking her own head rapidly. "Yeah…" suddenly, she leaped to her feet, making Sora jump back with a yelp, as she yelled. "Yes, I'm fine, dammit! What the hell was that?" Sparks crackled over her skin, making her hair stand up to give off a wild, almost rabid look to her. Sora could almost feel the sparks leaping off of her, the static making his own hair rise (well, rise a bit more than it already was, let's put it like that).

Before he could say anything else, a wolf (surprise among surprises) dropped from the trees. It was tiny, almost dainty, and almost too yellow to be called blonde. Bright blue eyes lingered over Yuffie, with something almost like irritation that her attack had not caused more pain than it had. The sadistic gleam had not left those eyes since Sora had seen them last, back in Castle Oblivion. It was remarkable how alike the two forms looked—both small and thin compared to the rest, with two odd growths of hair beginning above its eyes and arching elegantly over its back. Electricity crackled around it, and Sora felt the breath catch in his throat.

"Larxene?" he breathed, barely able to register what he was seeing.

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Leon and Xigbar had still not done anything significant, and not even a scratch showed on the two of them but the one on the black wolf's side that had been put there previously. And that was definitely not hindering him in any way. He kept disappearing and reappearing in a new location at a frightening rate, but time and time again he was foiled at a hit by Leon's blade, which blocked every hit that had been thrown at him so far. By this time, both of them were getting highly annoyed by this lack of progress, their moves getting more and more risky to catch their opponent off-guard. So far, nothing had worked, and their movements just kept getting more complex.

Finally, Xigbar disappeared, and Leon tensed his eyes sliding to the left and right to prepare for the inevitable attack. Unfortunately, Xigbar had simply decided to continue the frontal attack, reappearing in the same location that he'd previously abandoned.

It was a good move, but not good enough. Leon barely had time, but he brought his elbow down, relinquishing his double-handed grip on his sword for a second, cracking down on the wolf's head not half a foot before the gleaming fangs would have come into contact with his flesh.

The improvised move, however, had an unfortunate drawback to it. Though it prevented any serious injury, the black-and-white wolf's body continued its path forward, slamming into the brunette and sending them both tumbling towards the forest floor below. Leon's unsteady grip on his blade was torn free, and it was sent clattering off into the darkness. Swearing to himself, he tried maneuvering in midair to land on his feet, but in this black oblivion, he could barely tell which way was up.

They smashed into the ground heavily, both lying there, stunned. Leon was the first to stir, but as he raised himself up, a low, feral growl turned his attention downwards. A sightless, staring orb glared right back at him, and even though Xigbar couldn't see him, he knew where Leon was—it probably had something to do with the fact that the brunette had landed on him.

Xigbar strained to get up, but the brunette's weight and his slightly stunned state kept him down. Leon, however, knew it was only a matter of time before the wolf would have regained enough strength to get to his feet, and then it would be much harder for Leon to defend himself without his Gunblade. He cast about for it quickly, but the darkness was blanketing everything, making it indistinguishable. It had to be close, but in what direction, he wasn't sure.

Making a swift decision, he twisted around, driving his elbow down onto the wolf's head, trying to stun him more than he already was before leaping neatly to his feet. A flash of silver caught his eye, and he looked up to see Riku jogging towards them, his furious gaze on the fallen Nobody.

AS Xigbar struggled to his feet, slightly out of it due to the blow to his head that he'd only just received, a set of teeth sank into his back, making him snarl in pain and whirl upon Riku, the pain washing away some of the mist. The two swirled around each other, but Riku had almost no trouble taking down the other wolf piece by piece, breaking him down, exhausted as he was from his fight with Leon. It had taken most of his strength, and now Riku was taking advantage of that. Soon, Xigbar was struggling, blood pouring from new wounds, one of his front legs shattered completely. Finally, the black-and-silver wolf collapsed, his entire frame shuddering pathetically in a pool of blood. Riku backed off, unsure of what to do now. He looked over at the brunette plaintively, but Leon just stared back with a gaze that was equally blank.

"Don't look at me," he said. "I'm not going to kill him for you."

They looked at the fallen wolf, then back at each other, then at the blonde as he caught up with them. Cloud was staring at the sniper, a look of satisfaction on his face. "Good, you two got him." He looked at them expectantly, and Leon shrugged. "If you want to kill him, be my guest."

"What? You won't?"

"Not particularly inclined, no."

The blonde sighed, and then turned his back on the scene. "Let's just go. It's getting lighter out, and I don't want to be here when the sun comes up, thank you anyways."

Behind his back, the other two looked at each other once again, and then followed reluctantly. Only the silverhair paused to take a quick glance backwards at their fallen foe.

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Larxene was much harder to hit than Loz, who they were also fighting at the same time. She had a nasty habit of drawing you in closer, making you think that you had a small chance of getting a hit in, before she would take off in a sudden burst of speed, almost seeming to disappear before she came at you from behind. It was getting highly irritating, but so far they had managed to elude her, even though they hadn't actually managed to hit her yet.

Yuffie, for one, was getting very, _very _annoyed by this.

"Just…stay…still…you quirky…bitch!" she ground out between clenched teeth, swinging her shuriken wildly, nearly clipping off one of the long strands of hair that came from the blonde head.

None of the others, Larxene included, responded to that comment, to engrossed in trying to kill one another to even try.

Things were looking bad for the three humans involved in the fight. Whoever had decided that these two should go together were obviously thinking right, because they made a deadly combination of appalling strength and dizzying speed. They kept changing around, too, so you had to keep on your feet to change swiftly between the varying methods of fighting. It was hard, and all of them had, although managing to avoid getting bitten, were thoroughly scratched and bruised. By all rights, they should have been bitten by now, but it seemed that the two didn't think that any other wolves would be a good thing right now, at least for their team. Right now, Tifa, Yuffie, and Sora didn't think that having another wolf was a bad idea at all.

Sora felt teeth grinding against the metal of his Keyblade, and was forced back as Loz lunged forwards. Sparks flew, but neither one of the fighters was paying attention to that at all, even as both of them were left with small dots of light in the corners of their vision. Then the pressure was gone as Tifa came to his rescue, her foot hitting Loz's neck with a force that would have broken the spine of most of her opponents. This one, however, was sent tumbling a few feet before scrambling back in retaliation.

"I…hate…you!" came Yuffie's voice from somewhere to the left, and suddenly Larxene was there, claws raking parallel grooves in his side. He yelled, lurching backwards, trying to get the blade around fast enough to strike her, but she was already gone, and he heard Tifa yell in surprise as well. Whether she had been hurt or not, he couldn't tell. Suddenly, Loz was back, his body slamming into Sora's, seemingly in revenge for the past injury. Sora was propelled forward, his thin body crashing into something dark and evilly hard (most likely a tree, but it felt like a wall, really), and he staggered, sinking to his knees, expecting to feel a killing blow at any moment…but nothing happened.

Slowly, he clambered back onto his feet, using his blade to steady himself. Looking around, trying to ignore the agony ricocheting through his head, he looked over at the other two accompanying him. Both had puzzled expressions on their faces, and there was absolutely no trace of the werewolves anywhere.

"They just…disappeared," Yuffie said, not even attempting to hide the irritation in her voice. "The damn things just disappeared." Growling to herself, she threw her shuriken into the ground so that it stuck up, sitting beside it huffily. "This sucks," she grumbled.

Neither Tifa nor Sora paid her much attention, too used to her constant whining already. Instead, they turned to each other.

"What was that all about?" Tifa asked, wiping blood away from a cut on her forehead that was threatening to get into her eye. "Did they just get tired, because from what I could see, they were winning."

Sora shook his head. "I have no idea, but right now I really want to get out of here before they decide that maybe we would have been better off dead."

Tifa nodded, and the two of them headed off, with Yuffie scurrying after them once she had realized they were leaving, yelling at them for leaving her and getting a faceful of wet leaves from Sora to shut her up as they walked.

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By the time that they got back to the airship, Cloud, Riku, and Leon were already there. All three of them looked far better off than Sora's group, even Riku, who by this time had gone back to his regular human self and half of his injuries he'd obtained were already completely gone, with a fewer remaining ones that ran deeper than just a scratch.

"How did you guys do?" the silverhair asked as they came in, a slightly smug smile on his face, and Sora glared at him.

"Fine, thanks," he replied haughtily.

Tifa snorted. "You're kidding, right? We came across two wolves, we didn't do so very well."

Cloud frowned. "That's definitely not good. They know all of us, now, and I don't think we've even managed to see their full numbers yet."

"Where are Pyro and Blondie?" Yuffie chirped suddenly, and they all looked at her. She blinked. "What? Am I really the only person to have wondered about them?"

"It's dawn, Yuffie. They'll probably be along later," Leon said quietly. "We're all pretty early."

"They're probably out having sex, or something," Yuffie muttered to herself, and Sora saw Riku flinch slightly. He'd been trying not to think about it, but the ninja's comments weren't helping at all.

"Shut up, Yuffie," Cloud said shortly, and for the most part, she did, only grumbling to herself under her breath. They waited, something they had been getting increasingly better at over these past few months, but no one else came in.

An hour later, Roxas emerged from the trees, one arm kept tight at his side, the other clamped over his shoulder. Sora and Riku leaped up, going to meet him and help him into the ship.

"Sorry," Roxas said quietly, breath rasping in his throat. "Ran into some trouble, I guess you could say. Is everyone else—"

"Wasn't Axel with you?" Sora interrupted.

"We had to split up because we were being followed…" Roxas said slowly, concern edging into his voice. "Isn't…isn't he back yet?"

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A.N. I know, I know, short chapter again, but it reaches more than 4 pages on my Microsoft document, so maybe next time I'll make it, like 5 pages. Maybe a really large chapter as a birthday gift to 

me (my B-Day's June 1). Yeah…maybe I'll do that…I dunno. Anyhoo, no one seems to have an opinion on the yaoi pairings except for maybe three TOTALLY AWESOME people…so I'll probably just have to let my story run wild again.

TTFN

BlackFalcon002, aka Chris


	23. Chapter 23

A.N. This is interesting. I don't really know what to say, except here's the last chapter of Pure of Mind and Blood. Have fun. Go crazy. Eat food. Yeah…stuff…y'know, I actually write this after the chapter's finiahed and after the final author's notes, meaning that I've already seen the first part of the second season of Supernatural by now…but by the end of this, I'll have only seen the ending of season one.

Sorry. Just a little weird information about my weird, wacked-out little life.

Leave me alone and read the damn chapter.

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Axel emerged into the clearing, pulling at the fabric of the familiar black cloak with distaste.

"Do I really have to wear this?" he grumbled. "It's too hot out, now that the sun's come up, and I don't really want to—"

"Shut up," Saïx snapped. "This isn't about your comfort."

"Really," Axel said snidely. "I had no idea. I mean, I couldn't be any _more _comfortable right now, what with the gash on my back and the fact that my left arm nearly got torn off, oh, and—"

A clenched fist hit him squarely in the face, sending him crashing to the ground from the force of it. Saïx stared down at him, obviously feeling a bit better now, before snorting with contempt and growling, "Let's go, dumbass," stalking away between the close-knit trees as if they weren't there.

Grumbling to himself, Axel picked himself off the ground, wiping the blood from his lip and following the Luna Divider, saying some very nasty things about a certain blue-haired asshole. Unfortunately, his mutterings had him walking right back into the outstretched fist of that same blue-haired asshole.

"And if I hear you say one more word," Saïx said between gritted teeth, "You're going to find yourself leaving the bottom half of you here while the rest continues on. Let's fucking _go _now."

Deciding that maybe now wasn't the best time for smart remarks, Axel ground his teeth together and followed in a tight silence.

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Roxas squirmed, flinching as Tifa began wrapping bandages around his shoulder to staunch the heavy bleeding.

"Hold still," she chided. "Do you want me to fuck up your shoulder permanently?"

"I'll bounce back," the blonde snapped. "I need to get out there again. I need to find Axel."

"He could still be on his way, still," Sora said plaintively. Roxas turned his icy blue gaze on his Other, furious.

"Who the hell are you trying to kid, Sora?" he spat. "It's been three hours, idiot, _three fucking hours! _If he wasn't in trouble, he'd be back by now."

"You're hurt," Leon said, "It's not like you could do much right now."

"It would be better than just staying here and doing _nothing."_

"Then again, you wouldn't be wandering around like an easy target waiting to be ambushed and killed," Cloud said, not bothering to look over his shoulder at the other blonde. Which, of course, only served to make Roxas even more angry, and he pushed Tifa away.

"I don't care!" he yelled. "He's out there, and I—"

"I'll go."

They all turned at the quiet voice. Riku stood, arms folded, cerulean gaze looking at the forest, which still managed to look ominous despite the sunlight.

"I can go," he continued. "We might as well try and look for him now, while they're regrouping. Plus, the earlier the better, since they will need to take care of the three we took care of." His gaze swiveled around to meet Roxas' blue gaze. "And you shouldn't strain yourself, since you _are _hurt. They're right, Roxas."

"But—"

"I'll go with you," Sora said, and now all attention was focused on him. He shrugged. "Just so you're not alone. You could be a target, too, being alone."

"Why don't we all go, then?" Yuffie piped up, but Riku shook his head.

"The more people we have, the more chance we'll be noticed. Besides, we're not going out to attack. We're just trying to find Axel, wherever he went," the silverhair said. Cloud nodded, approving of the teen's tactical decisions.

"Fine," Roxas said, after a couple moment's hesitation, torn between one path and another. "Just…please hurry."

Riku nodded, disappearing out the door, with the brunette scurrying after him quickly. The ones left behind were quiet, and Tifa managed to catch Cloud's eye. The blonde held her gaze for a couple seconds, then nodded slowly.

"They should be fine," Leon said. "_Should _be fine."

Yuffie giggled. "I'd trust them. They're both perfectly capable of taking care of themselves."

Roxas didn't say anything, just staring out at the forest, watching two of his best friends disappear into the darkness. There was a sudden tug in his chest, and he glanced down, slightly puzzled.

'What was that…?'

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Axel was shoved into the middle of his old comrades, surrounded by the familiar mass of black. But instead of having Xemnas (or Mansex, as most of the Organization was fond of saying, he especially) at the head, it was the even more foreboding Sephiroth.

"Are you having fun, hanging around your boyfriend, Axel?" Marluxia said quietly. "Because your happy time's over now."

At a look from the Jenova-infected being, the Graceful Assassin shut his mouth. Then the blue-green gaze was switched back to the redhead, and he understood why Marluxia had shut up so quickly. This guy wasn't just scary, he was petrifying. This was the first time he'd ever had this gaze set upon him, and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

"So…" Sephiroth said calmly. "I see you came back."

"Yeah," Axel said, shrugging. "Not really by choice, but yeah, I'm back. Woohoo."

A second later, he cried out as a sword pierced his shoulder, driving him backwards as the silver-haired man hissed sibilantly, "That's not what I told you to do, now is it?"

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Riku and Sora went through the forest quickly, tense, ready for almost anything. Both kept their blades clenched tightly in their hands, trying to keep their minds off the fact that nearly-invincible opponents could drop upon them at any second.

Sora flinched at a tiny noise for what felt like the ninetieth time before he realized it was himself swallowing nervously.

Riku, unfortunately, noticed. As he always did when it came to Sora.

"If…if you want to go back, I have no problem with that," Riku said, and Sora, despite everything in his body telling him to turn tail and run, found himself shaking his head almost too quickly.

"I'm not leaving you out here by yourself," he said, determined.

Riku smiled at the younger teen. "Thanks, Sora."

The brunette smiled back, somehow reassured by the confidence that the other boy nearly almost seemed to possess.

"But…why…why would you want to help save Axel?" he asked before he could help himself. But now that it was out, he might as well run with it…right? "I mean…you still love Roxas…why…"

"Because we can't afford to lose even a shaky ally right now," Riku replied. "We're severely outnumbered, and over half of our numbers can't regenerate, so I think that a chance for any ally is an opportunity, even if I still don't really trust him."

Sora nodded. It seemed reasonable enough. "You've become quite the tactician. Been listening to Cloud too much?"

Riku shook his head. "No, not too much. Just listening to him, and taking notice of how he works things out. I still have a lot to learn, and he seems to know more than the average fighter. Leon, too, but neither of them really speak enough to learn too much at a time."

Sora chuckled quietly. "I can definitely agree with that."

They continued on, both trying their best not to smile (both of them failed quite nicely) as they thought of Cloud and Leon trying to teach anything. Or talking.

But Riku soon stopped smiling, as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and he stopped, looking around carefully. Sora stopped, too, as he noticed.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "What is it?"

'Someone's here,' Riku thought. 'Someone's watching us.' Of course, there was no way that he was going to tell Sora that right up front. It would only freak him out and put him even more on edge than he was before. So all he said was, "I thought I heard something…I guess it wasn't anything. Just be careful."

Sora shivered. "Eurgh, don't tell me that. It scares the hell out of me."

Riku turned away. "Yeah…you're right, I shouldn't say that. Sorry."

They walked off, and Riku soon became positive that someone was actually following them. Trying not to alert Sora, who by all rights shouldn't have even come, he began trying to pinpoint the movements of their pursuer.

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With a smirk that was as close to a smile that he could get, Saïx kicked the bloody, unconscious form of the redheaded pyro that lay sprawled on the ground.

"What now?" he asked, and Sephiroth turned to look at him.

"Dump him back where he'll be found again," the silverhair said calmly. "But don't kill him. He may come in useful later on."

Someone came forward as well, but this one was a lot less inclined to approach, much less address, Sephiroth in person. Still, he began in a slightly shaken voice, "U-um…where should I put the others…who are hurt…I—"

Saïx snorted, trying to resist the urge to stab the stammering blonde.

"Who cares, Demyx?" the blue-haired warrior snapped. "They're not good for much right now. Just make sure they're out of the way."

"Yes," Sephiroth said, thinking about it for a couple seconds. "Make sure they're out of the way…in fact…we have no use for them. Save Yazoo. Kill the other two, they'll take too long to get back on their feet, and they'll only be in our way again. If they're too stupid and slow to get hurt like that in the first place, they may as well be dead."

Demyx paled visibly. "B-but—"

"You heard me. Kill them."

Even Saïx was taken aback by this new turn of events. Xemnas had been ruthless, yes, but he hadn't done anything like this before, just taking out two of his fighters without any hesitation. But the silver-haired man's words were final, and Demyx only hesitated for another second before nodding and scurrying off.

Sephiroth watched him go, and looked at Saïx. "Do you think he has the courage to kill those two?"

Saïx took a few seconds, thinking about the implications of his answer. "Demyx is not a coward, and he's a reliant healer with a decent power over water. But he may have some trouble doing it—"

"Follow him, make sure that there are three bodies."

"Three? But I thought you wanted Yazoo to—"

"You misunderstand me. I want you to kill them, and the third would be Demyx. He's not worth anything to us at this point. We have no need for extra baggage to slow us down."

Saïx, despite his hard outer shell, was now definitely getting uncomfortable with this situation. "But Demyx's powers of healing are—"

"Useless if I control fighters that can heal themselves perfectly fine. That's what they're bred to do. Now either you will kill him and the others, or I will make the body count rise by yet another."

Saïx nodded, turning to go, then, as if remembering, grabbing Axel and hoisting him over his broad shoulders. Satisfied, the Luna Divider disappeared into the forest on the trail of his subordinate.

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Riku didn't know what was worse—knowing that they were being followed but not being able to see whoever it was, or not knowing where anything was at all.

"Riku…" Sora said quietly. "What is it?"

The silverhair jumped at the proximity of the voice, which was right by his ear. He'd thought that Sora was further away. Dammit, he couldn't afford to be sloppy.

"What do you mean?"

"You…you keep…uh, smelling. Like, the air. As if you know something's out there. And you keep looking behind us, and you jumped when I said something. As if you didn't know where I was. Something's got your attention…what is it?"

"It's—"

"If you say it's nothing, I will hit you."

Riku sighed. "You put that together pretty quickly."

"You're not the only one who's been listening to Cloud, you know," Sora said quietly, never taking his eyes off of Riku for one second. "Now tell me what you're worried about."

Riku hesitated for a few seconds, not really sure what to say, finally deciding on the truth. "I…I don't really know what's got me worried, but…there's…something that's not right, here. I can't really put my finger on it right now…but something's there."

"Is someone—"

"I don't know," Riku interrupted, cutting off Sora's words. He didn't want whatever it was following them to know that he knew it was there. It may be better for them to know that he was on the alert, but not that he knew that they were there. "But…it's probably just the way it can be so goddamn dark in here when the sun's supposed to be up."

Sora looked disapproving, but nodded slowly. "Yeah…yeah, that is creepy. I don't like it, either. But are you sure that…is that all that's bothering you?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah. Positive."

Sora grinned nervously, brushing past Riku to continue walking, but as he passed, Riku heard a very quiet "Bull," hissed at him, almost inaudible. The silverhair smiled to himself, turning to follow the brunette.

"Little bitch," he muttered to himself.

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"Zexion…Zexion, wake up, please, we have to go, now!" Demyx begged, shaking the slate-haired Nobody's shoulder carefully yet insistently. Slowly, the blue eyes opened, looking around to focus on the Nocturne.

"What the hell do you want, dumbass?" Zexion said slowly, blinking up at the blonde, very irritated.

"I have to get you out of here, right now," Demyx urged, trying to get the tactician to stand up, almost dragging him to his feet. "Sephiroth's trying to kill you and Xigbar, and—"

"Because we're a liability, right?" Zexion said, amusement in his voice. "Yeah, figures…" he muttered, when Demyx didn't answer. "And of course, he sent someone to make sure that the job got done, since he's nearly as good as planning these things out as I am. Isn't that right."

Saïx stepped from the shadows. "Yes."

Demyx leaped about a foot in the air, and Zexion bit back a groan of pain.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" he stammered, whirling around and taking some hastily scrambled steps back, not noticing the pained expression on Zexion's face. "Y-you—"

"He's here to kill me, Demyx," Zexion said with a grim smile. "Even you can't be that stupid."

"B-but why—"

"Because we're in the way," Zexion said, with obvious annoyance creeping into his tone. "Could you at least _try _not to make yourself sound like you're worth killing, too?"

"It's too late for that," Saïx said quietly, and they both looked at him. He sighed. "Sephiroth's already ordered me to kill you. Both of you."

"But..but…"

"If you ask why, Demyx, I'm going to kill you myself," Zexion snapped.

"I don't understand!" Demyx cried out, unable to stop himself. "Why would he kill us? I know we may be in the way right _now, _but that doesn't mean—"

"I don't understand it any more than you do," Saïx snarled, making Demyx jump again. "So the only reason that the two of you aren't dead right now is because I want to understand." His golden eyes moved slowly to look into Zexion's one visible blue one, burning. "And I'm betting that you can help me with that. Am I right?"

"You, asking for help?" Zexion said, not bothering to hide his amusement. "I'm shocked."

"Shut the fuck up and tell me what the hell is going on."

Zexion thought about it for a moment, then said carefully, "Fine."

"Can't we bargain or something?" Demyx hissed at him. "You can't just tell him!"

"There's not point in trying to ask him to spare whatever's left of our lives, idiot," Zexion replied, not lowering his voice. "It's called lying. Anyways, back to Sephiroth's master plan. At least, part of it." He looked right back into the yellow-eyed warrior's gaze without flinching. "What I can tell so far, and keep in mind that this is my speculation and nothing more, is that he's getting ready for a final assault on our opponents."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, for one thing, he's disposing of those that are weakening his forces."

"Why would he get rid of Demyx?"

"He's more of a healer than a fighter, always has been. And even if Nobodies needed a healer every once in a while, werewolves don't. So Demyx becomes useless."

"Hey—"

"Shut up," Saïx and Zexion said in unison, neither of them looking at him.

"But you could get better by the time that the next fight—"

"That's just it, though," Zexion said with a smirk. "He's planning something that's going to happen soon. Before we have a chance to recuperate."

"But that's crazy. We're not going to attack during the full moon?" Demyx asked, swept up in this as well. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Because they're not expecting it either. Obviously, we'll have the advantage of surprise…or at least, you will, since we'll be dead," Zexion said, a bit smugly. "The point is, he's going to do something big that includes all capable fighters, and he's not going to wait around for us."

"So…this is going to be a full-on attack?"

"Seems like it," Zexion replied.

"But then what about Yazoo? Why is he being kept alive?"

"Maybe because he's a sharpshooter that can pick off people long-range. Maybe it's because they share genetic material. Who knows, but I can tell you that he's not keeping him alive out of compassion. He still wants to use Yazoo for something."

"I see."

"So, now that I've gone over all of that," Zexion said with a wry smirk. "You can kill me now. Wasn't that what you were planning to do?"

"Yes. That was the plan," Saïx said grimly. The claymore appeared in his hand, and he looked at it for a few seconds, as if considering, before raising it, brining it down in a spray of blood.

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Riku turned to his left, stopping in his tracks. Sora noticed, looking back at him with a worried expression. "What? What is it?"

"Blood," the silverhair said quietly. "A lot of it."

"Where?"

"Right where I'm looking. That way." He pointed.

Sora looked at the darkness of the trees, then at the silverhair, then back at the trees. "Do you want to go check it out?"

"I think that would probably be a good idea," Riku said quietly. "That's way too strong of a smell to be a minor injury."

Sora nodded, and they moved quickly off, urgency making them hurry. But not enough that Riku couldn't tell that whatever it was behind them was still there.

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"You can open your eyes, Demyx," a cold voice said with amusement. Demyx, in response, cracked one eye open, following it with the other.

"What's going…what happened?" the blonde asked, looking around. His eyes fell on Xigbar, the claymore protruding from his chest. The sharpshooter's head was lolling, now, his only visible eye now dulled and clouded over in death.

"He killed Xigbar," Zexion said simply.

"Well, yeah, I can see that, but why…I thought he was going to kill us?"

"Apparently he went for the cripple, first," Zexion said with another of his smirks.

"Watch it, emo boy, you're hurt, too."

"True."

"Will _someone _please tell me what the _hell _is going on here?"

Zexion and Saïx exchanged glances, then the blue-haired warrior turned back to the blonde and said flatly, "Get out of here before your stupidity convinces me to kill you right here and now." He turned away, and Demyx called out, "But what are you going to tell Se—"

"It doesn't matter," Saïx snarled angrily. "I'll figure something out."

"But—"

"Shut up and let's go," Zexion snapped, dragging the blonde along with him despite the wounds he had, and Demyx staggered, then hurried along with the slate-haired Nobody. Saïx watched them go, satisfaction flickering across his features before turning back to his regular apathy, turning away from the carnage that he'd created to disappear through the woods.

One more body lay there, now, though, the red hair blending in with the blood spattered on the leaves and dirt.

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A.N. This is the final chapter of Pure of Mind and Blood (wow, it's been a long time since I've written that title.) Sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger like that, but it's better than the original chapter I've got saved on my computer.

Anyhoo, I have no idea what the last segment is going to be called. The last story, I mean. So…if anyone has any bright ideas, they're going to get their title and name used. If anyone wants to. If not, I'll make up something stupid, probably.

Wow, I wish I had more to say than this, but I'm really tired and I've been watching Supernatural for almost two straight days and I'm very, very tired. Like, _very, very _tired. Still, can't get enough of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Gotta love those two.

Wow, off topic. Anyhoo, hope you like it, and I hope you like what you see. Give me ideas, too, by the way, 'cuz I'm running out.

I love every single one of you. Y'know, like, a lot.

P.S. I'll know you're a Supernatural fan if you can answer appropriately: Jerk.

 Ciao  

BlackFalcon002

aka Chris

Love y'all. Loads.


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